Truck Driver Hits 3 Cars During Chase on 4 Freeways

The driver of a semi-truck hauling an empty 40-foot propane tank trailer led law enforcement officers on a wild, 54-minute chase on four Los Angeles-area freeways during rush hour Thursday afternoon before he was stopped and arrested.

Speeds reached 70 m.p.h. as the trucker, identified as Eddie Lee Tyner, 33, of Oildale, raced along the 605 to the San Bernardino, Santa Monica and Harbor freeways and onto surface streets near USC, California Highway Patrolman Paul Stein said.

The fleeing truck struck three moving cars during the chase, and although the autos were extensively damaged, the CHP said, the motorists were not injured.

The chase began at 4:30 p.m., Stein said, when a Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy attempted to cite Tyner for illegally parking his rig in a residential area in Lakewood and the trucker sped off.

While deputies followed and called in the CHP, Tyner raced from Lakewood to Alhambra, East Los Angeles and Central Los Angeles, getting off and back on freeways and finally taking to surface streets in Southwest Los Angeles, Stein said.

“We didn’t know he was empty,” Sheriff’s Lt. William Miller said. “We thought he had enough stuff in there to blow us and three blocks around to kingdom come.”

Near the Hoover Street on-ramp to the westbound Santa Monica Freeway, Tyner climbed out of the cab of his moving truck and disconnected the lines leading to the trailer’s brakes, causing them to lock and permitting pursuing officers to catch up with the slowing truck, Stein said.

Tyner was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs, assault with a deadly weapon, evading arrest and reckless driving.