[cheapphenonline]

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, Calif. — A middle school teacher under investigation in a lewd-acts case led officers
on a chase Tuesday that ended with his pickup truck veering off a road, flying down an embankment and ramming
a tree, officials said.

The chase began with a child-endangerment investigation by police in the city of Bell, who are investigating Kip
Arnold, a physical education teacher at Southeast Middle School who is suspected of lewd acts with a former student,
officials from the California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles Unified School District said.

Bell police had been watching Arnold at his home in Lakewood, and were about to arrest him when he got into the
truck and fled, leading a chase on roads and freeways including Interstate 405, Interstate 10 and Pacific Coast Highway.

At one point a patrol car bumped the pickup, forcing it to crash into a big-rig.

After that came a brief standoff where the suspect talked to police before fleeing again.

TV news helicopter cameras followed the pickup as it veered off a road in the Rolling Hills Estates area, crashed through
a fence, became airborne and flew into trees.

Firefighters freed the driver, and took him away on a gurney.