The 91 Freeway standoff began with a domestic violence investigation, ended in a suicide
A police pursuit that halted traffic for six hours on the 91 Freeway began with a Corona police investigation of a man accused of violating a domestic violence retraining order and ended with his suicide on the roadway.
Efrain Quezada, 40, of La Puente was being investigated by the Corona Police Department days before the Friday pursuit, said police Cpl. Tobias Kouroubacalis.
Corona officers were actively searching for Quezada, who was accused of stalking, making criminal threats and violating a domestic violence restraining order.
When officers found Quezada on Friday at around 8:05 a.m. they tried to conduct a traffic stop in the area of McKinley Street and Griffin Way in Corona, but he refused to pull over.
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Instead, he led officers on a chase on the westbound side of the 91 Freeway for about 15 minutes before he stopped his blue four-door sedan in the middle of the roadway.
The Anaheim and Corona police departments used their armored vehicles to box in the sedan so he couldn't move the car.
"Nearly the entire time, [Corona Police crisis negotiators] were on the phone with him, off and on, trying to negotiate a peaceful surrender," Kouroubacalis said.
Both sides of the freeway were closed for about six hours because of the standoff. The California Highway Patrol directed motorists behind the standoff to exit the freeway.
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The negotiation process proved fruitless, and Quezada ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound around noon, Kouroubacalis said.
Traffic on the eastbound side of the 91 Freeway began flowing again around 12:45 p.m., but the westbound side remained closed until 3:48 p.m. as the Orange County Coroner's Office and forensic team conducted their investigation , according to the Caltrans District 12 account on the social media platform X.
During the standoff, law enforcement vehicles created a barrier between Quezada and the miles-long line of waiting drivers.
Kouroubacalis said he is aware that people complained about the traffic.
"Our response to that is, if it was their family member or friend, they would want us or any law enforcement agency to take reasonable efforts to bring him out of the car peacefully," he said.
"We did everything we could to get him to voluntarily comply with us and come out of the car, but it just did not work," Kouroubacalis said.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
