Two people were seriously injured when a car that had been chased by Fullerton police crashed in La Mirada Friday.
Fullerton police detectives were conducting plain-clothes surveillance around 6:30 p.m. in the parking lot of Hiltscher Park, located at 1002 N. Euclid Ave., due to an increase in auto burglaries in the area, according to Fullerton police Sgt. Jon Radus.
Detectives saw a black Ford Fusion enter the parking lot where numerous vehicles had previously been burglarized and watched as one of the males exited the vehicle. He approached a vehicle in the parking lot and burglarized it, Radus said.
The male got back into the Ford Fusion and the suspects fled the parking lot north on Euclid Avenue, Radus said.
Detectives followed the Ford Fusion until marked police vehicles could respond to stop the vehicle near the intersection of Gilbert Street and Malvern Avenue, but the driver failed to stop and continued at a high rate of speed, Radus said.
Officers entered the intersection of Colette Way and La Mirada Boulevard in La Mirada at 6:36 p.m. and found that the Ford Fusion had crashed into a tree, trapping two suspects inside as the vehicle started to catch fire. Officers freed both suspects from the car before it became engulfed in flames, Radus said.
Both suspects were immediately taken to local trauma centers with serious injuries but are in police custody on suspicion of auto burglary and felony evading, according to Radus.
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The names of the suspects were not immediately available.
