Two officers were hospitalized after a man struck them with his vehicle in Seal Beach Saturday and led police on a foot chase with a 4-year-old child in tow, officials said Sunday.
Officers responded to a four-car collision in the area of Seal Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway just after 6:30 p.m. Saturday, the city of Seal Beach said in a news release. While they were investigating, they got another call of a possible drunk driver coming northbound on PCH near Seal Beach Boulevard where they were.
One of the officers was outside investigating the initial crash when he was allegedly intentionally struck by the reported drunk driver’s gray Dodge Durango, officials said.
The officer then fired his gun at the driver — later identified as 23-year-old Oscar Eduardo Mercado of Long Beach — through the front windshield but did not strike him, according to the news release.
The driver fled northbound on PCH at a high rate of speed and crashed into the driver side of another Seal Beach police officer, who was driving his patrol car at the time.
Mercado then careened into another vehicle, head-on and stopped.
He then got out of the car and fled, leading officers on a short foot pursuit. Mercado had a small child in hand, later determined to be his 4-year-old daughter, officials said.
Officers found him and took the child from his grip before tasing and arresting him.
Police then also found the man’s 12-year-old brother abandoned in the car, officials said.
Mercado was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and was then transported to the Orange County Jail where he was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, felony hit-and-run, felony child endangerment for both children, and resisting or delaying a peace officer with violence.
His bail is set at $100,000 and he is scheduled to appear in court Tuesday, O.C. booking records show.
Both police officers who were struck by the vehicle were taken to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and are recovering, the Seal Beach Police Department said Sunday.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Detective Jeff Gibson at 562-799-4100 ext. 1109.