Two men were behind bars Thursday for allegedly leading Riverside County sheriff’s deputies on a chase in Blythe, and authorities said they were found to be in possession of narcotics and an unregistered firearm.
Seferino Benjamin Grajeda, 43, of Burbank, and Cesar Octavio Lopez Velazquez, 36, of Medford, Oregon, were arrested Wednesday after failing to yield during an attempted traffic stop on westbound Interstate 10 at Corn Springs Road, according to Riverside County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Ed Reynoso.
During the ensuing pursuit, the two suspects allegedly threw bags of suspected narcotics, specifically fentanyl pills, out of the windows of their vehicle.
The suspects eventually yielded on state Route 177 near Desert Center, and both were taken into custody without incident.
A search of the suspects’ vehicle yielded additional suspected narcotics as well as a unregistered firearm, according to Reynoso.
Deputies searched the interstate in the stretch where the suspects allegedly tossed the bags of narcotics out of the vehicle, and they discovered an estimated $4,000 worth of fentanyl pills, Reynoso said.
Grajeda and Velazquez were booked into Blythe jail on suspicion of possessing narcotics for sale, possessing an unregistered firearm, evading the police and other alleged crimes. They were being held on $500,000 bail.