Motor Officer Tim Purdy got a concussion Sunday while chasing an assailant accused of driving a stolen car, La Mesa Police Department reported Sunday.
Purdy spotted the car around 6:30 p.m. Sunday near Grossmont Center at the Jackson Drive and Center Drive intersection and attempted to pull over the car.
Instead of coming to a stop the driver in a 2013 Nissan Rogue accelerated, reaching speeds in excess of 60 mph. About a quarter-mile after the chase started, Purdy lost control and crashed his motorcycle into a curb in the 5700 block of Jackson Drive.
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Officers who responded to join the chase stopped to aid Purdy, who was sent to a nearby hospital to be treated for a minor concussion and sore neck, police said.
Around 6:40 p.m. police received a call from a resident who said they saw the car parked in the 5700 block of Cowles Mountain Boulevard. The La Mesa Police Department, San Diego Police Department, San Diego County Sheriff's Department and a helicopter responded to assist in the search.
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Shortly thereafter, 33 year-old Michael Seymour Jr., one of two people in the car, was located near the intersection of Lake Murray Boulevard and Connecticut Avenue and arrested for possession of narcotic controlled substance, La Mesa police said.
The alleged driver, 27-year-old El Cajon resident James Rachels, was taken into custody around 12:30 a.m Monday where the chase started in the 5500 block of Jackson Drive, police said.
Rachels was booked into San Diego Central Jail at 3:15 a.m. on charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, reckless evading police with disregard for public safety.
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