Police identify domestic violence suspect arrested after 3-hour chase through Los Angeles, Orange counties

Authorities have identified a Buena Park gang member as the domestic violence suspect who allegedly led police on a three-hour pursuit through parts of Los Angeles and Orange counties on Wednesday, April 24.

Alexis Leondardo Avinai, 29, was arrested in Rowland Heights at about 10 p.m. Wednesday, after attempting to evade California Highway Patrol officers who chased him through South Los Angeles and northern sections of Orange County. The pursuit began at 5:12 p.m. Wednesday after South Gate police received reports of an altercation between a man and a woman in a silver Honda Sedan. An officer spotted the vehicle, which took off as he approached.

At times, the man reportedly assaulted a woman riding in his passenger street as he wove through traffic on freeways and side streets, occasionally driving into oncoming lanes and ignoring red lights. Police vehicles occasionally tapped the bumper of the fleeing sedan, but mostly kept their distance as the driver traveled from Los Angeles County to Orange County and back.

He eventually pulled into a parking lot, walked shirtless into an adjacent 99-cent store, and left in handcuffs and a new long-sleeve shirt.

Avinai was described as an admitted gang member from Orange County, said South Gate police Sgt. Chris Dahlia. Sgt. Evelyn Garcia said he was booked on suspicion of domestic violence and evading arrest. Inmate records show he was held at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles on $75,000 bail.

The suspect was scheduled to appear at Downey courthouse on Friday, April 26.

No charges were filed against the passenger in the sedan, who was taken to a hospital Wednesday evening, Garcia said.