Los Angeles Police Detail Arrest of Man They Chased, Hunted in Pasadena

Los Angeles Police Department officers have identified the man arrested in Pasadena after their officers pursued him as he drove a black 2017 Ford Mustang in a chase that started in downtown LA and ended in East Pasadena Monday night.

The search for the suspect kept residents awake and on edge for hours.

The suspect, John Calderon, 29, was arrested without incident early Tuesday on Colorado Blvd. Officer Ramon Lomeli of the LAPD said Calderon was taken into custody at about 2:15 a.m.

“He was booked on a felony charge of evading,” Lomeli said. The officer also said the car Calderon was driving wasn’t a stolen vehicle.

The woman who was Calderon’s passenger and who was taken into custody at the end of the pursuit has been questioned and released, the LAPD said.

Lomeli said the Ford Mustang failed to stop when officers attempted a traffic stop at Beverly Boulevard and Alvarado Street in downtown Los Angeles, and the chase ensued.

The car traveled at high speed on the northbound 5 Freeway after transitioning from the eastbound 10 Freeway, a report by KNBC Monday night said.

The LAPD momentarily lost track of the vehicle, but a police helicopter soon spotted the racing car, as it transitioned north to the 2 Freeway and to the 134 Freeway, before jumping onto the 2 Freeway.

The vehicle then exited onto Walnut Street in East Pasadena, pulled onto the wrong side of the street and came to an abrupt halt a short time later.

Police saw two people exit the vehicle and started to flee, but the woman stopped and gave herself up.

The man, who later turned out to be Calderon, used an underpass to escape detection.