Dog Tracks Down Suspect at End of Freeway Chase

A routine traffic stop led to a high-speed chase through the San Fernando Valley and finally to the arrest of a suspected armed robber, authorities said Tuesday.

The incident began when California Highway Patrol Officer David Mueller spotted a southbound car going 80 m.p.h. on the Foothill Freeway about 10 p.m. Monday, authorities said. Mueller pulled the car over after it turned west on the Simi Valley Freeway, they said.

“It was a traffic stop,” said CHP Officer Jill Angel. “But as he was pulling them over, he heard a broadcast on his car radio for two robbery suspects. As he got out and approached the car, he recognized the two people and the car as fitting the description he had just heard.”

Mueller ordered the two occupants out of the car, but the vehicle sped away, Angel said. Mueller gave chase in his patrol car and was soon joined by several other patrol cars and a Los Angeles police helicopter, authorities said. The fleeing vehicle then turned south on the San Diego Freeway and cut through the Valley at speeds of up to 100 m.p.h., authorities said.

Car Blows Tire

Just north of the Sunset Boulevard off-ramp, the suspects’ car blew a tire and spun out of control on the freeway shoulder, Angel said. He said the two men jumped out of the vehicle and ran into heavy brush on the nearby hillside. The CHP closed one southbound lane of the freeway while officers searched for the pair, authorities said.

About 11:15 p.m. a police dog found a man hiding in a bush near the freeway, Angel said. Authorities identified him as Roscoe McMurray, 25, of South-Central Los Angeles. McMurray, identified as the passenger in the car, was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery.

The other suspect is still at large, officials said.

McMurray was taken to an area hospital, where he was treated for dog-bite wounds. He was being held in the Los Angeles County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bail.

Detective Jerry Johnson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said McMurray is suspected of taking part in four robberies in the north county between 6 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Monday. Two guns and about $3,000 taken during the robberies were found in the stolen rental car abandoned by McMurray and the second suspect, Johnson said.

The first robbery occurred at a gas station in Palmdale and was followed by robberies at a Sand Canyon hardware store, a Castaic campground store and a Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Pacoima, Johnson said.