LBPD: After Car Chase, Duo Charged with Narcotics, Weapons Possession

* This story was updated at 10:05 a.m. on 10/7/13.

Two men were arrested and charged in a narcotics and forged prescriptions investigation that involved a car chase in Long Beach on Wednesday.

According to a statement release by the LBPD, patrol officers engaged in a car chase involving David Ortiz, 25, of Long Beach and Sergio Vazquez, 35, of Far Rockaway on Oct. 2. The statement characterized the chase as a brief, low-speed chase in which the defendants turned onto a street under construction. 

Lt. Eric Cregeen, a LBPD spokesman, told Patch that the suspects drove passed a red traffic light at Virginia Avenue and turned on to West Beech Street heading east and then turned southbound on to Wyoming Avenue. 

As the defendants drove on the street and around a large cement truck, they were faced with the front bucket of a back hoe, operated by Bruce Fox of Local 138 Operating Engineers, which temporarily blocked the street while the defendants tried to flee the police, the LBPD said. 

"At this time the officers maintained visual contact with subject vehicle and the roadway ahead was blocked with construction vehicles performing road work," Cregeen said. 

Fox safely shut down his equipment and LBPD officers were able to block the vehicle in and arrest Ortiz and Vazquez. During the investigation, detectives recovered Oxydone, a gravity knife and seized the vehicle and nearly $2,000 in cash.

Both Ortiz and Vazquez were charged with third-degree and fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Ortiz was also additionally charged with second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. All charges are felonies.

“Defendant Ortiz is alleged to have possessed a forged prescription for a narcotic drug and use it at a pharmacy to fraudulently obtain a quantity of Oxycodone,” police said. “The forged prescription fraudulently listed an actual Doctor’s name and address. The doctor is considered a victim.

In the statement about the incidents, police didn’t indicate the whereabouts or location of the chase and the arrests, nor the time of the incidents.

LBPD Commissioner Tangney commented on the case: "Combating the prescription pill epidemic that is rampant in this country is a top priority of this Department. Unfortunately these forged prescription schemes are common and we collectively combat them with increased awareness, training and tracking coupled with comprehensive Police investigations and information sharing."