COUNTYWIDE : 2 Car Chases Pass Through County

Authorities Tuesday chased suspected car thieves in two separate pursuits through Orange County.

The first chase began in National City south of San Diego at 3:40 a.m. when police tried to stop a gray 1986 Mazda 626 for a minor traffic violation, according to Lyle Whitten of the California Highway Patrol office in Westminster.

The driver, Michael Ray Praytor, 19, of San Diego, refused to stop and headed north on the San Diego Freeway, passing through Orange County at speeds between 100 and 110 m.p.h., Whitten said. The suspect finally lost control of the vehicle while attempting to leave the freeway in Long Beach. The car went over the side of the Lakewood Boulevard off-ramp, but the driver and his two passengers were unharmed, Whitten said.

Officers searched the vehicle and said they found a scale, plastic bags and a small amount of a white powdery substance believed to be crystal amphetamine, Whitten said, adding that the car was determined to have been stolen.

Praytor and JoAnn Barwick, 38, a passenger, were arrested and taken to Long Beach Jail on suspicion of possession of a stolen vehicle and possession of drugs, Whitten said. A third suspect, Russell Patrick Broom, 19, of San Diego, was also arrested. Broom was also a passenger in the vehicle but ran away. He was later found by police hiding in a drainage ditch near the freeway, Whitten said. Barwick and Praytor are both from San Diego.

The other chase started in Los Angeles about 1:15 a.m. when officers attempted to stop a yellow 1969 Dodge sedan that had been reported stolen, a police spokesman said. The chase continued on three freeways through Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties before it ended in Tijuana, Mexico. As the driver raced across the border at San Ysidro, Mexican authorities apparently shot at the speeding sedan, but the occupants ditched the vehicle and escaped on foot in downtown Tijuana.