Police on Wednesday identified the driver they chased around Los Angeles County for hours the night before, saying the man is mentally ill and didn’t have a gun as they’d initially suspected.

The six-hour ordeal began when gang enforcement officers pulled over 35-year-old Michael Zinkiewitz’s car around 6:50 p.m. in the Vermont-Slauson area of South L.A., the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release.

Police have not said why exactly they stopped Zinkiewitz’s car at Vermont Avenue and 65th Street.

Once they approached the vehicle, officers say they saw the San Pedro resident reach under a seat, leading them to suspect he had a gun. However, when the chase ended, no gun was found.

The officers stopped approaching the vehicle after they saw Zinkiewitz reach under the seat, and then Zinkiewitz drove away, according to LAPD.

The ensuing chase began erratically, though the driver identified as Zinkiewitz slowed to a glacial pace as he first made his way south on the 110 Freeway to San Pedro, back north up the 110 and 101 Freeways into Hollywood, then east on the 10 Freeway through the San Gabriel Valley and into Ontario.

For a large chunk of the chase Zinkiewitz’s vehicle was driving around 20 mph with its emergency flashers engaged. In several spots spectators were waiting on overpasses to get a peek at the lengthy pursuit, and authorities blocked on-ramps and diverted traffic.

In an interview with KTLA Wednesday, Afthem Patsalos, the driver’s mother, said her son had missed his medication and was “on a psychotic episode.” He told her over the phone that authorities were following him and he wasn’t sure why, she said.

At some point, Zinkiewitz’s family contacted LAPD to identify him and describe his state of mind. Police say they had “great communication” with Zinkiewitz’s family that helped prevent officers from further escalating the situation.

Patsalos says she was on two phones throughout the pursuit — one to communicate with her son, and the other with police.

Patsalos said her son has been in and out of mental health programs much of his adult life and struggled with drug addiction.

“When he’s on his medicine, he’s very loving, good-hearted and has a lot of talents,” she said. “He does music. He makes things. He’s very good with children, he’s very good with animals.”

Sky5 left the scene of the chase at 11:40 p.m. on the 10 Freeway in West Covina, and it ended around two hours later after officers deployed a spike strip near the Vineyard Avenue exit in Ontario. Two of the car’s tires had already been damaged by another spike strip around 9:30 p.m.

Zinkiewitz refused to comply with officers’ commands after exiting his car, but moved closer to them after speaking with his brother via crisis negotiators, LAPD said.

Video from the scene shows about eight officers surrounding Zinkiewitz with his hand raised and handcuffing him.

Zinkiewitz was booked on two burglary warrants and for alleged felony evading, LAPD said.

Inmate records show he was being held without bail and remained in custody Wednesday afternoon.