Trio in Chandler beatings arrested in Phoenix

Three men were arrested Wednesday after police say they robbed and assaulted a group of people in Chandler and led officers across town to a Phoenix neighborhood.

According to Detective Frank Mendoza, Chandler police spokesman, police responded about 11:30 p.m. to a call of fighting at East Chandler Boulevard and North Exeter Street, between Arizona Avenue and McQueen Road. Police found four people lying in the street.

The suspects took off in a car as police arrived. Mario O. Ochoa, 30, Manuel M. Ortiz, 36, and Robert C. Medina, 27, were later booked on suspicion of two counts each of armed robbery and aggravated assault and four counts each of kidnapping.

Two of those in the street were hospitalized, according to Mendoza.

Chandler police chased the car through neighborhoods and tried to use nail-embedded strips officers throw into a fleeing vehicle’s path to blow out tires.

A Mesa police helicopter joined the chase and spotted the car at U.S. 60 and Loop 101.

“Once the helicopter came on scene, we backed off,” Mendoza said.

With patrol cars near and the chopper above, the car went to a neighborhood near 24th Street and Broadway Road in Phoenix where the suspects bailed out.

Officers arrested one man immediately and followed the other two to a house in the 2600 block of East Southgate Avenue, where they barricaded themselves inside with a family.

Mendoza said a state Department of Public Safety SWAT team arrived and got the family out safely. The SWAT team eventually went inside and arrested the two men.