Crash, foot chase prompt police lockdown of Glendale neighborhood

Police on Monday found a kilogram of cocaine inside a car and arrested one man after a foot pursuit prompted a roughly three-hour lockdown of a nearby neighborhood.

The driver, Jabbar Lattimore, 30, was arrested after he and his passenger allegedly fled during a traffic stop on Western Avenue near San Fernando Road at about 9:35 a.m., Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said.

Police locked down Ruberta, Justin and Sonora avenues from San Fernando Road and Glenoaks Boulevard in search of the second man. K-9 units were brought in to assist, but the man, who was described as heavyset and Latino or white, wasn’t found, police said.

Forensic investigators later searched the car and found the cocaine in a bag on the driver’s seat, police said. The estimated street value for the cocaine was $320,000, Lorenz said.

As police attempted to pull the men over, they made a turn from an alley in the 1000 block Ruberta Avenue and nearly hit a pedestrian, Lorenz said.

As the pair allegedly fled from police in their Chrysler, they hit a curb — causing the vehicle’s front tires to pop — and then struck a tree, Lorenz said.

That’s when they fled on foot into the nearest neighborhood, police said.

Police soon started fielding numerous calls from residents who said a man was banging on their home doors and begging to be allowed inside.

Pinned inside the car after the crash, Lattimore, of Lakeland, Fla., was arrested on suspicion of possessing cocaine for sale, transporting the drug and evading a police officer, Lorenz said.

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