A multi-city freeway pursuit stretched from Orange County to Los Angeles County ended on Wednesday in Compton, with a father arrested and a 6-year-old girl safely rescued.
Authorities detained three people after a high-stakes police chase that included an alleged kid abduction and a risky attempt to throw a rucksack with drugs and a pistol over a freeway overpass.
The incident began when a mother called the Anaheim Police Department to report that her estranged boyfriend—who is the father of her two children, has not seen them in a long time, and does not have legal custody—had arrived at her Anaheim home and attempted to take them.
According to authorities, one youngster accompanied the father, either by force or permission, while the other child remained at home.
According to police, the father drove away with the 6-year-old child in a little white van.
Officers discovered the vehicle on the 91 Freeway in Buena Park and attempted a traffic stop, resulting in the pursuit.
Officers from the Anaheim Police Department and the California Highway Patrol pursued the slow-moving van as it went westbound along the 91 Freeway, passing in Bellflower and toward Long Beach.
During the chase on the 91 Freeway, the father stopped the van and was seen holding a rucksack, authorities said.
He allegedly flung the rucksack over a freeway overpass and onto an oncoming automobile below. According to authorities, the driver and passenger in the second vehicle retrieved the backpack and departed the scene.
A police aircraft monitored the second vehicle, allowing cops to eventually pull it over and arrest both occupants after discovering a handgun and narcotics inside the retrieved bag.
According to authorities, the pursuit halted when the father stopped his van on a freeway overpass along the westbound 91 Freeway in Compton. He surrendered and was brought into custody.
The 6-year-old child in the van was discovered unharmed and has now been reunited with his mother.
The father was arrested on narcotics and weapons charges, and the two occupants of the second vehicle were also arrested on narcotics and firearms charges, according to police.
The names of the father and the two others caught in the secondary vehicle have yet to be published formally by authorities.
The Anaheim Police Department is actively investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident to see whether child custody kidnapping charges will be filed against the father in addition to the firearms and narcotics counts.
The matter will be presented to prosecutors for formal filing.
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