Suspect Allegedly Slashes Wrists And Leads Police On Wild 2-County Chase
JURUPA VALLEY (CBSLA.com) — A suspect who allegedly slashed his wrists and rammed a police vehicle, led authorities on a two-county chase Wednesday that ended with a violent crash in Jurupa Valley.
The chase started in Ontario and ended in Jurupa Valley.
Officials said they responded to a "suspicious vehicle" call around 1:30 p.m. near the 3600 block of San Lorenzo River Road in the Creekside area of Ontario.
Before the chase began, officials said the suspect rammed a police car with such impact the vehicle was inoperable.
A second police car gave chase.
KCAL9's Tom Wait said the chase was often "terrifying." Speeds often reached more than 100 mph.
"A lot of chaos," reported Wait.
When the suspect attempted to ram a second police car with his truck, an officer fired a shot, striking the vehicle.
The chase came to an end when the suspect -- now identified as 25-year-old Jeffry Avant of Banning -- crashed his red pickup truck in a strip mall parking lot at Limonte and Etiwanda.
A restaurant on-scene was evacuated after the suspect's car came barreling through the parking lot.
"Look at my car. My car isn't even there any more. The truck is on top of my car," said Shavana Ahmed.
The suspect crashed into Ahmed's car and ended up on top of it.
"We were just sitting there calmly and we heard lots of sirens at first. And we were just like, 'Oh my God. What is that?' Literally two minutes later, two cars come blaring in and crash into each other. They were literally one foot away from crashing into the window," said Ahmed.
Restaurant patrons were told they needed to leave the eatery because the suspect had a gun.
Officials said the pursuit suspect tried several dangerous maneuvers during the chase including slamming on his brakes
After being taken into custody, Wait reported the suspect had several "self-inflicted wounds" when police arrested him. Authorities described the wounds as slash and cut marks to his wrists. Police said Avant was distraught over a recent break-up with a girlfriend.
After Avant is cleared medically, authorities said he will be booked at the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga and charged with assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and multiple counts of felony evading.
The deputy-involved shooting is also under investigation. Officials said the officer who fired his weapon is a nine-year veteran of the force but would not name him publicly.
Anyone with more information about the incident is asked to call Ontario Police Detective Robert Marquez at (909) 395-2777.
