A police pursuit that halted site visitors for six hours on the 91 Freeway started with a Corona police investigation of a person accused of violating a home violence retraining order and ended with his suicide on the roadway.
Efrain Quezada, 40, of La Puente was being investigated by the Corona Police Division days earlier than the Friday pursuit, mentioned police Cpl. Tobias Kouroubacalis.
Corona officers have been actively looking for Quezada, who was accused of stalking, making legal threats and violating a home violence restraining order.
When officers discovered Quezada on Friday at round 8:05 a.m. they tried to conduct a site visitors cease within the space of McKinley Road and Griffin Method in Corona, however he refused to tug over.
As a substitute, he led officers on a chase on the westbound facet of the 91 Freeway for about quarter-hour earlier than he stopped his blue four-door sedan in the midst of the roadway.
The Anaheim and Corona police departments used their armored automobiles to field within the sedan so he couldn’t transfer the automotive.
“Almost all the time, [Corona Police crisis negotiators] have been on the telephone with him, on and off, attempting to barter a peaceable give up,” Kouroubacalis mentioned.
Either side of the freeway have been closed for about six hours due to the standoff. The California Freeway Patrol directed motorists behind the standoff to exit the freeway.
The negotiation course of proved fruitless, and Quezada ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound round midday, Kouroubacalis mentioned.
Site visitors on the eastbound facet of the 91 Freeway started flowing once more round 12:45 p.m., however the westbound facet remained closed till 3:48 p.m. because the Orange County Coroner’s Workplace and forensic workforce carried out their investigation , in line with the Caltrans District 12 account on the social media platform X.
In the course of the standoff, legislation enforcement automobiles created a barrier between Quezada and the miles-long line of ready drivers.
Kouroubacalis mentioned he’s conscious that individuals complained in regards to the site visitors.
“Our response to that’s, if it was their member of the family or pal, they might need us or any legislation enforcement company to take affordable efforts to carry him out of the automotive peacefully,” he mentioned.
“We did all the things we might to get him to voluntarily adjust to us and are available out of the automotive, but it surely simply didn’t work,” Kouroubacalis mentioned.
