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Fair Police chase ends in narcotics, weapons arrest
LPBD detectives nab two men after pursuit in Long Beach
Police arrested two men on felony drug and weapons charges on Wednesday after a brief car chase in Long Beach.
According to Long Beach Police Commissioner Mike Tangney, detectives nabbed the men following a narcotics and forged prescription investigation by the Long Beach Detective Division’s Narcotics Task Force.
On Oct. 2, police said that Long Beach resident David Ortiz, 25, and 35-year-old Sergio Vazquez, of Far Rockaway, led officers on a chase through an undisclosed location in Long Beach. Police said that Ortiz is alleged to have possessed a forged prescription for a narcotic drug, which he used at a pharmacy to fraudulently obtain Oxycodone. The forged prescription fraudulently listed an actual doctor’s name and address, and police said that the doctor is a victim of the alleged fraud.
Leading up to the arrest, police described a brief, low speed chase before the men turned ultimately turned onto a street that was undergoing construction.As they proceeded up the street and went around a large cement truck, police said that the suspects were faced with the front bucket of a backhoe being operated by Bruce Fox, a member of Local 138 Operating Engineers.
The backhoe had temporarily blocked the street during the roadway construction, at the same time the defendants were fleeing police. Police said that Fox safely shut down his equipment, allowing Long Beach Police Officers to block the vehicle in and make the arrests.
Detectives recovered Oxycodone, a gravity knife and seized the vehicle and nearly $2,000 in cash. Police did not disclose the time of the incident.
Both men were charged with third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a class B felony; fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a class C felony; and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a class D felony. Additionally, Ortiz was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, a class D felony.
“Combating the prescription pill epidemic that is rampant in this country is a top priority of this Department,” Tangney said in a statement. “Unfortunately, these forged prescription schemes are common and we collectively combat them with increased awareness, training and tracking coupled with comprehensive Police investigations and information sharing.”
