Last Updated on December 18, 2021 by CCAR Staff
A 30-year-old Redlands man was arrested after he fled from police in a suspected stolen pickup truck and crashed it into a home in Highland, killing two passengers Friday afternoon, Dec. 17, authorities said.
San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies saw the truck heading westbound on Greenspot Road near Alta Vista just before 4:15 p.m. and noticed it matched the description of a vehicle stolen during a kidnapping, the Sheriff’s Department said.
Deputies attempted to stop the truck, but the suspect, identified as Anthony Lara, turned northbound on Weaver Street and began to speed away, deputies said. He was believed to be armed.
He blew through a stop sign at Baseline Street, but lost control of the truck, veered left and crashed into a home on the northwest corner of Clear View Lane, deputies said.
Photos of the home taken by a neighbor Saturday show major damage to a wall extending up to the roof of the two-story home. The building had been red-tagged, according to video from OnSceneTV.
A man and a dog inside the home were not injured and evacuated to safety, deputies said.
The two other occupants of the truck, a 49-year-old Yucaipa man and a 32-year-old Highland woman, were pronounced dead at the scene. They were not victims of the kidnapping incident, Sheriff’s spokeswoman Gloria Huerta said, but their relationship to the suspect wasn’t immediately known.
Lara was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries, but his condition was not available. It wasn’t known if deputies found any weapons inside the truck.
