ALHAMBRA, Calif. – A man suspected of attempted kidnapping was captured Tuesday after a freeway chase and standoff that ended when sheriff's deputies tossed a grenade into his van and a police dog dragged him from the smoke-filled vehicle.
A member of a Los Angeles County SWAT team (search) used a long pole to shove a "flash-bang" grenade through a rear window. Television reports showed a burst of light as the device exploded, and smoke filling the minivan.
The driver's door then opened, and the police dog rushed in, grabbing the man, tearing his shirt and dragging him from the seat onto the pavement. The siege ended shortly after 3 p.m.
There was no immediate word on the suspect's condition. His name was not immediately released.
Earlier, armored sheriff's vehicles had pinned the minivan against a sound barrier and about a dozen SWAT team members surrounded the vehicle after a California Highway Patrol (search) car nudged it and sent it spinning, ending a three-hour chase through two counties.
Traffic on busy Interstate 10 (search) backed up for miles while a negotiator talked to the man, who had at least two weapons and was described as distraught.
A CHP dispatcher — patched into a telephone call the man made to KCAL-TV and KCBS-TV — asked him at one point to toss out one of his weapons.
"I already gave you all the clips and all the ammunition. There's only two bullets in this car and they're meant for me," he replied.
The chase began around 8:45 a.m. after a man posing as a delivery courier tried to kidnap a woman in the wealthy Lake Sherwood area, Ventura County sheriff's spokesman Eric Nishimoto said.
He met the woman on the porch, produced a handgun and a ransom note and "demanded that she go with him," Nishimoto said. As they were leaving, however, the woman mouthed to a watching neighbor to call 911, Nishimoto said.
Then "she turned and ran back into the house and he took off," Nishimoto said.
It was unclear whether he knew the woman, Nishimoto said.
A short time later, sheriff's deputies spotted the minivan, which fled onto a freeway. Highway patrol officers chased it through two counties at speeds ranging from 35 mph to 70 mph, depending on traffic, Officer Tomiekia Johnson said.
At one point, officers laid down a spike strip that blew out the van's rear tires but the van continued to drive on its rims. A CHP car bumped the vehicle three times, causing it to spin out of control briefly.
The third time, the van spun completely around and struck a soundwall, jarring the bumper loose and coming to a halt.
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