Different driver at pursuit crash scene in Hacienda Heights details the moment deputies detained him

HACIENDA HEIGHTS, Calif. (KABC) -- A man who led police on a wildly erratic and dangerous chase through Los Angeles and Orange counties was taken into custody, but a different driver whose car was hit by the pursuit suspect was also detained at the end of it.

After stealing multiple vehicles and sideswiping cars during the chase Wednesday night, the suspect eventually crashed into a white sedan and then a gas station at Gale Avenue and Hacienda Boulevard after a deputy's vehicle smashed the stolen truck from behind.

As authorities tried to apprehend the suspect, deputies were also seen grabbing and cuffing the driver of that sedan.

A man was arrested in the San Gabriel Valley after he led authorities on a dangerous chase in which he stole a van and a truck, and hit several other cars on the road.

Adrian Cruz says he was on his way home from work, and had his family in the car, when the chaotic scene unfolded in front of him. He then got out of the car because he said he wanted to get out of the way of any possible crossfire.

"It just sounded crazy, like a war zone... so I got out of the car immediately," Cruz said. "I don't want my son and my wife to be a part of that, so as soon as I get out of the car the cops just smash me, start socking me up, smashing me, throwing me in the back, like if I was the dude that stole the car."

Cruz says he was released shortly after.

Eyewitness News reached out to the L.A. County Sheriff's Department on why he was detained, but we have not heard back.

RELATED: Whittier man details confronting chase suspect, trying to stop theft of his family's work truck

A man detailed the terrifying moment a suspect broke into his family's Whittier home and stole their utility truck as he rampaged through the streets of Los Angeles and Orange counties during a chase Wednesday.

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