Burglary Suspect Leads LAPD in Chase to Border

A burglary suspect, holding his young son hostage, led Los Angeles police on a 150-mile high-speed pursuit Monday that ended in a dramatic standoff at the Mexican border, where the suspect dropped the child and sprinted across the international frontier into the waiting arms of Mexican authorities.

The California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles Police Department officers who had been chasing the suspect took a few steps across the border--a faded yellow line painted on the roadway at San Ysidro--but could only watch as he ran into Mexico.

Mexican authorities turned over the suspect, Eddy Price, to U.S. officials Monday afternoon, four hours after he fled the country. Los Angeles police said Price, a 35-year-old West Los Angeles man, was wanted in connection with a December burglary on the Westside.

The tense border confrontation, aired live on television, included the scene of a U.S. customs officer trying to talk Price into surrendering moments after his car came to a stop about 30 feet from the border.

Even by the standards of Southern California, where freeway police chases are part of the everyday din of television news, Monday’s drama was unusual.

It reached its climax as Price held his 1-year-old son, Justin, in his arms, inching toward the border while more than a dozen officers with guns drawn surrounded them.

Price, holding a knife to his own throat, suddenly gave up the child to the customs officer just a foot or so inside the United States, and ran toward a row of customs booths marked “Mexico.” Soon he was swallowed up by Mexican police officers and television crews.

Only an American police dog violated international protocol and continued the chase into Mexico, where it was joined by a Mexican police dog. At least one of the dogs apparently bit Price before he was taken into custody.

“It’s a different situation than we normally see,” CHP spokesman Stan Hruza said. “We could only follow them up to the border. After that, we don’t have jurisdiction in Mexico.”

Justin was unharmed, officials said. After he was examined at a San Diego hospital, authorities drove him to Los Angeles, where he was to be reunited with his mother, police said.

Interviewed by reporters at a Mexican police station near the border crossing, Price professed his innocence and said--to the bewilderment of the border media corps--that he simply wanted to go shopping in Tijuana.

“I didn’t do anything illegal. I was driving my car, that’s all,” he said. “I don’t care what people think, I’m my own man and I’ll do what I’m going to do.”

Los Angeles police said the chase began just before 9 a.m. when detectives, following a tip, arrived at Price’s home to arrest him.

“When [the detectives] got there, he was just getting into his car and driving away, pulling out of the driveway,” LAPD spokesman Sgt. Willie Guerrero said. “They tried to flag him down, but he took off.”

Detectives set out after him in an unmarked car. They radioed for help, and an LAPD patrol car picked up the pursuit southbound on the San Diego Freeway at El Segundo Boulevard.

The chase proceeded into Orange County about 9 a.m., after the peak of Monday morning rush-hour traffic, said Mike Richardson of Traffic Management Control in Santa Ana. “We didn’t have any incidents or tie-ups because of it,” Richardson said. “Traffic was light.”

The car continued south on the San Diego Freeway to Interstate 5 at El Toro Road, then into San Diego County, where CHP patrol cars took control. Transfer of responsibility for the chase was hampered somewhat, CHP officials said, when the LAPD patrol cars drove out of range of their Los Angeles-based radio transmitters.

Authorities said Price switched from Interstate 5 to Interstate 805, speeding toward the border at speeds of 70 to 95 mph. CHP officials said they alerted the U.S. Customs Service and the Border Patrol as the vehicle continued to speed south.

Price zigzagged his car past the rows of automobiles waiting in line at the busy border crossing, at one point driving on the shoulder, coming to a stop only when an idling utility vehicle and traffic barrier blocked the way.

Television video showed one officer breaking the window of the car. A minute or so later, Price emerged holding Justin.

LAPD spokesman Eduardo Funes said the presence of the child made the officers at the scene more cautious.

Al Morales, a supervisory inspector with U.S. Customs, said he approached the vehicle and tried to talk Price into surrendering. Instead, the suspect moved to the back seat of the vehicle. Morales said he saw Price briefly point the broken tip of the knife blade at his son’s throat.

The Customs officer said Price threatened to “cut the baby’s throat” if the police didn’t back off. Morales eventually coaxed Price out of the car by promising him that he would be able to cross into Mexico on foot if he would hand over the child.

With helicopters circling overhead, the two men walked toward the border. At that point, “he didn’t struggle, he willingly gave us the baby,” Morales said. Once inside Mexico, Price was tackled by officers and dragged into a patrol car.

Morales, meanwhile, handed Justin to another U.S. customs inspector, Charmaine Rodriguez, who tended to the boy. The inspector removed a blanket, teddy bear and bottle from Price’s car.

Price sounded a note of contrition.

“I made my bed and I’ll lie in it,” he said in a raspy voice as he sat at a table, handcuffed, one arm bandaged and his T-shirt ripped. “This was caused by my own stupidity.”

Some people watching the chase on television expressed shock that the suspect would involve a child in a dangerous situation.

“It’s really sad to think that a poor kid was involved,” said Charles Costa, who watched part of the saga at his Top of the Hill Tavern in Costa Mesa. “And people here were saying they thought the Mexican government shouldn’t have pulled him over at the border. They should have done it here.”

Others said they were angered by media coverage of the chase.

Roger DeMond, a sales manager at Circuit City in Laguna Hills, watched the end of the saga from his home in Mission Viejo.

“To make it a media event for a couple of hours is just wrong,” he said. “I say get them off the road ASAP. Put up a blockade, those tack boards that put holes in the tires or shoot them out, but get it done.”

Live TV coverage may encourage suspects to lead police on high-speed chases, he said. “I think they thrive on the notoriety. Not many of us get claim to fame or 15 minutes on television.”

Ellingwood reported from Tijuana. Tobar reported from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Valerie Burgher in Orange County also contributed.