A 20-year-old man suspected of being the getaway driver in a police chase that killed an alleged fellow thief was scheduled to make his first appearance in court Friday on a murder charge.
Ge’Onte Ray Charles Sessions was charged with felony counts each of second-degree murder and leading police on a chase that caused serious bodily injury.
The chase began shortly after three suspects broke into the Red Poppy Boutique at 640 W. First St. in Tustin Sept. 11, according to Santa Ana Police Cpl. Anthony Bertagna. The thieves stole expensive purses and other goods, he said.
An Orange County sheriff’s deputy in the area saw the suspects and tried to pull them over in a SUV, but the driver hit the gas and fled, Bertagna said.
The suspects raced away at speeds topping 100 mph, eventually losing the deputy, Bertagna said. But when they reached Chestnut Avenue and Lyon Street in Santa Ana the driver lost control and the SUV slammed into a tree, Bertagna said.
The collision killed 19-year-old Luis Arreguin of Los Angeles, Bertagna said.
Santa Ana school district police officers in a nearby station heard a “massive explosion,” and they attempted to get the occupants out of the SUV, which caught fire, Bertagna said.
Orange County Fire Authority firefighters had to extricate the pinned passengers, Bertagna said.
Another passenger in the vehicle, 21-year-old Travon McNeil of Los Angeles sustained life-threatening injuries along with Sessions.
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