Suspect Arrested After Police Pursuit, Search in CdM

A 40-year-old homeless man, with ties to Newport Beach and suspected of evading police officers after an attempted DUI traffic stop in Laguna Beach, was arrested Wednesday following a brief search of a Corona del Mar neighborhood.

Laguna Beach police officers responded to a report a motorist possibly driving under the influence at 6:39 p.m. The gray SUV’s driver, Kevin Laurence Favreau, yielded near Glenneyre and Cleo street but drove off when an officer approached the vehicle on foot, said Sgt. Jim Cota, a spokesman for the Laguna Beach Police Department.

Officers pursued Favreau on Laguna Canyon Road and onto the northbound 73 toll road. An Orange County Sheriff’s Department helicopter arrived on scene and began broadcasting the pursuit to law enforcement.

The suspect exited the toll road and was driving through Irvine when he collided with another motorist, who was not injured in the crash. Favreau then drove into Newport Beach.

At one point, officers lost sight of the suspect’s vehicle but he was located after Newport Beach police reported a second collision. With the help of OCSD and Huntington Beach police helicopters, officers located the suspect’s car.

Officers managed to deploy spike strips to pop the vehicle’s tires before it the chase headed into CdM around 7 p.m., NBPD Sgt. Mike James said.

Kristi Smitt was celebrating her birthday eating dinner outside at the Bungalow when she saw a gray SUV speed by at more than 45 mph, driving on its rims with sparks flying.

“We could not even talk because it was so loud from the [rims] screeching,” she said.

The vehicle was found unoccupied and officers started searching a residential neighborhood west of Larkspur and Third avenues. Officers searching the area on foot were shining flashlights in the front yards of residences in the neighborhood with weapons drawn.

Newport Beach police officers located Favreau who physically resisted while being taken into custody, Cota said. Newport Beach police were familiar with the suspect because they had arrested him on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs the previous week. During that arrest, he assaulted one of their officers.

Favreau was placed in custody for felony evading of a peace officer, driving under the influence, hit and run, and possession of a controlled substance, Xanax, without a prescription.

The vehicle, which had Nevada license plates and Cota confirmed was a rental, was towed from the scene around 8:30 p.m. It is unknown how Favreau came into possession of the vehicle, but he is not charged with auto theft at this time.

In his OCSD record, his occupation is listed as realtor. There is no record of under his name in the California Department of Real Estate database.