Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

COVINA - A San Diego man was arrested January 24 after allegedly jumping the counter at a smoke shop to take several packs of cigarettes, a Covina Police sergeant said.

Kevin Dinh walked into the Abolute Smoke Shop, 439 N. Vincent Ave., and reportedly was acting erratic. He allegedly kept reaching for his waistband, leading employees and customers to think he was armed, according to Sgt. Marquez of the Covina Police Department.

An employee locked the door to prevent Dinh from entering. Officers located Dinh. He entered his vehicle and took off, Marquez told SGV CityWatch.

The pursuit traversed Covina into Baldwin Park, back through Covina, Irwindale, north on the 605 freeway and east on the 210 freeway, Marquez told SGV CityWatch.

The California Highway Patrol joined the chase.

During the freeway portion of the chase, Dinh blew one tire near Sunflower Avenue in Glendora.

“He exited off at Lone Hill. When he came off the freeway he hit two cars there and hit another at Gladstone and Lone Hill,” Marquez told SGV CityWatch. “After the last collision he lost control and ran into a pole at that Chevron gas station.”

Dinh allegedly fought with an officer who tried to take the suspect into custody.

Dinh was booked on suspicion of driving under the influence, robbery, assaulting a peace officer and felony evading, Marquez told SGV CityWatch.

County booking records were unavailable for Dinh.

Written by AARON CASTREJON
CityWatch Editor

COVINA HILLS - A suspect who took a GPS bait package in the northern portion of Arcadia is still at large Wednesday, after escaping to the Covina Hills, where the suspect crashed through a residential yard.

Officers followed the location of the GPS bait package after it was taken around 5 a.m. Wednesday, January 18. The bait package was tracked eventually to the I-10 freeway and on to surface streets in the Covina Hills area. Officers then located the crashed vehicle abandoned with the package still inside, according to Sgt. Quiroz of the Arcadia Police Department.

The suspect crashed in the 19800 block of East Rambling Road in an unincorporated portion of Covina. The California Highway Patrol in Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies were also on scene.

It is unclear why the suspect crashed, although Quiroz surmised that the suspect likely knew that officers were trying to track him.