Man Fleeing Police Killed in Traffic
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SANTA ANA — A Carson man trying to evade police by running across the Costa Mesa Freeway was struck and fatally injured by oncoming traffic, and his partner was arrested on suspicion of auto theft, authorities said Friday.
About midnight Thursday, a man driving a stolen pickup truck led police on a chase on the Santa Ana Freeway to the southbound Costa Mesa Freeway at speeds reaching 75 mph, police Lt. Jose Garcia said. The driver exited Dyer Road and reentered the Costa Mesa Freeway heading the wrong way on the southbound lanes, Garcia said. North of Warner Avenue, both the driver and a passenger abandoned the truck and ran across the freeway, police said. “The driver made it across but the passenger didn’t,” Garcia said.
Rudolph Israel Mendez, 51, was struck by traffic and taken to Western Medical Center-Santa Ana, where he died about 5 p.m. Friday, Garcia said.
Investigators arrested the driver, John Charles Ingersoll, 33, of Garden Grove, on suspicion of evading arrest and possessing a stolen truck. Ingersoll is also wanted in Los Angeles on suspicion of burglary.
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