A felon was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for leading police on a chase through Santa Ana, during which he fired shots out the window of his car on several occasions, then held officers at bay in a standoff that lasted upwards of four hours.
Jimmy Hoang Truong, 31, was convicted in February of three counts of assault with a semiautomatic weapon and one count each of possession of a firearm by a felony and leading police on a chase, all felonies. With sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a gun, he could have been sentenced to up to 31 years and four months in prison.
Truong also resolved three open cases, but his guilty pleas to possession of a drug pipe and methamphetamine and possession of alcohol in jail while awaiting trial on the police pursuit case did not add any more time behind bars for him.
Truong, who was given credit for 1,174 days in jail, expressed some remorse for his crimes during the sentencing hearing.
“You’re lucky you have family,” said former Superior Court Judge Thomas Goethals, who has since been appointed an appellate court justice but returned to sentence Truong. “They still seem ready to support you when you are out. You are blessed. So when I say good luck, I mean it.”
The pursuit began about 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2015, near Euclid and McFadden streets when officers attempted a traffic stop.
Early in the chase, the defendant was westbound on First Street when he saw a Santa Ana officer pull out a gun and order him to stop, which he ignored, according to Deputy District Attorney Brock Zimmon.
Initially, he said, Truong stopped at red lights. But then the defendant got on the Garden Grove (22) Freeway going 90 mph and quickly exited at Harbor Boulevard, then began driving “more dangerously,” as he blew through red lights and traveled on the wrong side of the road, Zimmon said.
Another turning point came when the suspect drove into an Arco gas station at Euclid Street and Edinger Avenue. Seven squad cars were in hot pursuit, with another four close by, Zimmon said.
Some officers saw Truong shoot, while others heard a gunshot fired from the suspect’s car, Zimmon said. The officer who was fired on swerved to the right to avoid being hit, the prosecutor said.
A Garden Grove officer who heard the pursuit on a police radio joined the chase because he was trained to lay down spike strips that can be used to deflate vehicle tires, Zimmon said.
The maneuver succeeded in flattening one tire, so the officer and his partner jumped ahead of the pursuit to lay down the spike strip again, this time deflating the remaining tires of the suspect’s car, Zimmon said.
After the first attempt to derail the chase, some officers reported shots fired, Zimmon said.
After the second crossing of the spike strip, the device became stuck under Truong’s car and he kept going.
After Truong made a U-turn at Euclid and Seventh streets, officers reported shots fired again, Zimmon said.
During the chase, Truong called 911 and spoke with a negotiator, Zimmon said. Multiple times the defendant hung up on the negotiator, he said.
The chase finally ended at Euclid and Fifth streets, where the suspect was surrounded by police, including officers in two armored vehicles, nicknamed Bear and Peacemaker, Zimmon said.
Truong refused to get out of his car and alarmed police by punching the gas at times to make the wheels, which were down to rims, spark, Zimmon said. Orange County Fire Authority firefighters were called out to spray water around the car to guard against a blaze.
Truong was on the phone with police during the 3-hour, 40-minute standoff at times and put a gun to his head at other times before finally surrendering, Zimmon said.
When Truong was arrested, police cited it as an example of the failure of Proposition 47, which allows convicted felons to have convictions reduced to misdemeanors as Truong did.