Chase of stolen taco truck ends in crash in San Bernardino

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- Two male suspects were taken into custody Monday morning after they lost control of the taco truck they had allegedly stolen, sideswiped a bus carrying about 45 schoolchildren and crashed into a propane truck in San Bernardino.

It all started around 8 a.m. when Marcos Garcia, the manager of Amapolla Rico Taco, said the phone started ringing off the hook.

"I started getting phone calls from our customers saying that our truck was involved in a lot of hit-and-runs," Garcia said.

Garcia said that's when he realized that his truck had been stolen.

"He was just sideswiping trucks, cars along the way, going and driving on the wrong side of the road," Garcia described.

Garcia called San Bernardino police, who spotted the truck. That's when the pursuit began. The suspect behind the wheel of the stolen taco truck drove at speeds of up to 80 mph, police said.

Witness Jeremy Morales said he saw the chase, which only lasted for 2 miles, end right in front of him when the stolen truck exited the 215 Freeway at Mill Street around 9:30 a.m.

"There was a lot of traffic so he didn't have nowhere to go. Went up on a curb, hit the school bus," Morales said.

After that, he plowed into a truck carrying propane. That's when the pursuit came to an end.

But police said one of the suspects made a threatening move, and an officer opened fire.

"You hear a couple of shots, and then he hit the propane truck and they asked him to get out. They both got out. They were two black males. There were a bunch of kids on the bus, but they all seemed to be OK," Morales said.

Police said the suspects were not hit by gunfire.

The two suspects, who were later identified as 20-year-old Sean Fowler and 22-year-old Daiquon Horne, were arrested and taken to the hospital for injuries they suffered during the crash.

None of the kids on the bus were hurt. They were put onto another bus and taken to a nearby school because at the time, there were fears that the propane truck was leaking. The fire department has since deemed the area safe.

"It could have been a whole lot worse and obviously we erred on the side of caution, got the kids off the bus, got them to a safe location," said Lt. Rich Lawhead with San Bernardino police.