Suspect rams cop cars, breaks into homes and fights knife-wielding resident in wild police chase

In a wild police chase through the streets of Los Angeles, a suspect has smashed into multiple cars, stolen and set two vehicles on fire, rammed into two police cars and endangered hundreds of motorists.

Johnny Anchondo, 32, of Moreno Valley, was arrested Wednesday after the hour-long chase captured by a helicopter camera on the local network KABC-TV channel 7who also saw him break into a knife-wielding stranger’s house and steal his jeep.

The high-speed chase was sparked when a black Honda Civic was seen traveling at a dangerous speed of 90 mph near Auto Center Drive and the 5 Freeway in Fullerton, police spokesman Jon Radus said.

Police tried to track him after the alleged traffic violation stopped as he headed toward Anaheim.

After pinching himself at a red light between stationary cars, the driver ran through a residential area.

The panicked driver then dumped his car and appeared to try to break into a pickup truck, but failed, got back behind the wheel of the Civic and began his frantic escape attempt again.

The car zigzagged on both sides of the road at perilous speeds before stopping in front of a row of houses and the driver fleeing.

He then got into a parked white van, but a police car immediately tried to close in on him.

Officers aimed their guns at the suspect, who then began to repeatedly ram the front of the police vehicle to make room for another escape.

The driver turned the van around and narrowly swerved past a second oncoming police vehicle before dodging three more, swerving onto the grass and back onto the main road.

The van owner, John Reynolds, told… KATLA TV channel 5 he didn’t know the van had been stolen until he got a call from the manager of the VvE at the complex, after which he saw the chase on TV.

After getting behind two stationary cars at a traffic light, the van scraped between them, sending debris flying up the street in the reckless chase.

The suspect turned back onto the highway and swerved erratically between lanes at speeds over 100 mph, endangering all other motorists.

Meanwhile, a police helicopter also hovered overhead, as the driver often nearly loses control while zooming around corners.

At one point, the driver started driving down a road in the wrong direction in the face of oncoming traffic before venturing off-road in the crazy scenes.

Sparks flew from the steering wheel as his left rear tire gave out and the metal rim screeched on the ground, making his escape attempt even more difficult.

The van then got stuck between two cars waiting in traffic as the driver tried to push himself through.

One of the sidecars escaped but the van still couldn’t move and a police car emerged and an officer aimed his gun at the vehicle, sparks flying into his face from the rotating rim that began to glow red from the friction.

The rim then ignited and smoke began to billow from the front of the car as the end of the chase came into view.

The driver, who was wearing dark clothing, then decided to get out of the vehicle after crawling through the passenger window and escaped on foot before the surrounding police officers.

He jumped fences before entering a family home through the back door in the stunning scenes.

The suspect then appeared at the front of the house and had a furious confrontation with the apparent homeowners, apparently brandishing a knife, breaking into their truck despite the owners’ desperate attempts to stop him.

He then nearly ran over them and their dogs when he slammed the gate at the front of their house while making another daring bid to escape, as the Los Angeles County Sheriff now gave chase.

Andres Benitez told KNBC TV Channel 4 he had only just come home from work when the man burst into his house.

He said, “I was just talking to my mom and we were having a normal conversation when I saw the back door open.”

Benitez grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to defend his mother and his home, but the suspect grabbed the keys to the truck from a kitchen table and ran outside, got into the car and ran off with the landscaper’s tools inside.

In the new car, he continued to put others in serious danger by driving incredibly dangerously through the streets of California, driving into oncoming traffic and turning off the road.

The suspect tore through quiet streets and parking lots now with the full glare of the vehicle’s helicopter spotlight.

His erratic and dangerous driving made it nearly impossible for the police to keep up with him and predict his next move.

But they were soon in pursuit again before he rejoined the highway.

The car darted in and out of traffic as officers began to close off a number of intersections so they could stay out of danger.

Now an hour into the chase, the driver was forced to plow a curb and scrape past other speeding cars.

The walls began to approach the driver at 1000 block of Hacienda Boulevard in Hacienda Heights.

The car ended up in a dead end where the car had to turn around and escape the police cars.

As dozens of police vehicles approached him, another tire blew and sparks began to shoot from his second getaway car.

The suspect collided with a jeep and rammed it off the road before crashing into more cars seconds later as his desperation increased.

After rolling into more stationary cars, a police officer returned the favor by ramming his car from behind.

The suspect then drove into a gas station where he hit a pump and then tried to back up, again ramming the front of a police car.

Smoke and flames began pouring from the back of the truck as officers opened fire and bullet holes smashed into the car window, though no one was injured.

After a brief standoff, a massive team of armed officers with ballistic shields approached the vehicle and broke the driver’s side window, eventually detaining him, ending the mayhem.

Anchondo was arrested around 6 p.m., police said, and is being held without bail at Norwalk Police Station.

The dramatic police chase of the white vehicle through the streets of Orange County on live TV had echoes of OJ Simpson’s infamous 1994 chase into the white Bronco.

Police spokesman Radus said: “This was clearly an incredibly dangerous chase involving a suspect who had no regard for public safety, the motorists on the street and the police officers involved.”

A total of three people have been hospitalized with crash-related injuries and Anchondro has suffered a wrist injury.

At the end of the chase, bystander Adrian Cruz was in a car that was hit by the suspect.

When he tried to get his family out of the car, he claimed that officers attacked and arrested him despite being injured.

A Sheriff’s Department spokesman said he was being held for refusing to step out of the line of fire.