Updates with additional details on arrests

A 100-mph pursuit of robbery suspects from Rancho Cucamonga to Pasadena on Thursday ended with three arrests, including one in which, for the second time this year, television news images showed San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies repeatedly striking a prone suspect.

Two of the three suspects, including the man who was hit in the side and kneed in the head as he failed to comply with deputies’ commands, are documented gang members, the Sheriff’s Department said in a news release.

The department is conducting an internal investigation – standard in such cases – to determine whether the use of force was within department policy, the release said.

The Sheriff’s Department’s arrest tactics have come under scrutiny recently.

In January, the family of Victorville resident Dante Parker filed a civil rights lawsuit, alleging that deputies stunned Parker as many as 27 times in an August 2014 incident before he died. The coroner ruled that Parker died from a drug overdose and cardiovascular disease.

On April 9, deputies were videotaped hitting and kicking theft suspect Francis Jared Pusok at the end of a pursuit in Apple Valley after he fell off a horse that had been reported stolen.

Ten deputies were placed on paid administrative leave, and ultimately three were charged with excessive force by a peace officer. All three pleaded not guilty.

Then on Sept. 18, a deputy aboard a helicopter shot driver Nicholas Alan Johnson to death during a wrong-way pursuit on I-215 in Devore. The deputy and the pilot were placed on a standard three-day leave. Sheriff John McMahon at the time defended the unusual shooting, which was targeting the vehicle’s electronics, as necessary to protect the public. Johnson had two previous convictions for felony evading with disregard for safety.

On Thursday, the pursuit began shortly before 11 a.m. after deputies responded to a 911 report of a robbery by a resident hiding in a home on Penrose Place in Rancho Cucamonga. The deputies spotted a light blue sedan in which the suspects were seen fleeing. Deputies located the vehicle in the area of Milliken Avenue and Base Line and attempted to pull over the car.

But the suspects fled west on the 210, weaving in and out of traffic and on both shoulders, the release said. They exited the freeway onto Rosemead Boulevard. A short time later, a deputy spun out the vehicle on Paloma Street.

The driver, identified as James Smith, 24, of Van Nuys, fled from the car and was quickly captured, according to the Sheriff’s Department. A passenger, identified as Donovan Gardner, 25, of Pasadena, also ran and was stopped at gunpoint on the street about 11:30 a.m.

Gardner, the release said, “failed to comply with deputies’ repeated commands to cooperate. Deputies continued to ask him to get down on the ground and put his hands behind his back. Once on the ground, a struggle occurred between Gardner and two deputies who were trying to gain control of him and place him into custody. Gardner turned over onto his back and refused to give the deputies his hands.”

Images from a handful of TV news helicopters showed a deputy then rapidly and repeatedly striking Gardner with his right hand. At times, Gardner’s legs flailed.

A third deputy arrived, and Gardner was handcuffed.

A third suspect, Simone King, 22, of Northridge, who was in the back seat of the car, exited with his hands up and was arrested.

All three suspects were treated at hospitals for complaints of pain.

No officers were injured, despite one sheriff’s patrol car striking a tree, the release said.

Smith and Gardner are gang members in the Pasadena/Altadena area, the release said. Smith was on parole for burglary, and Gardner was on parole for residential robbery.

Sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller also said that no one she spoke with was aware of a transmission over a law enforcement radio frequency that appeared to indicate that an officer was watching the arrest on TV and wanted to make the deputies aware that they were being videotaped.

Miller said she was not aware of any of the deputies being placed on leave.