Homeless man stands in front of stolen firetruck to end pursuit in Orange County

Homeless man talks fire truck thief out of pursuit

A homeless man helped end a police pursuit early Tuesday morning. The man helped talk another man who'd stolen an Orange County Fire truck out of the vehicle in Anaheim.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - A homeless man helped end a police pursuit early Tuesday morning. The man helped convince the man who'd stolen a firetruck in Orange County to surrender to police in Anaheim.

The chase for the fire engine 85 started after a man drove away with it while firefighters were dropping off a patient at the UC-Irvine Medical Center in Orange around 1:40 a.m., according to Capt. Greg Barta of the Orange County Fire Authority.

"As they were dropping off a patient at the hospital the truck was stolen," Barta said.

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The suspect traveled through many Orange County communities, including Fountain Valley and Irvine.

The pursuit eventually ended in Anaheim near Ball Road and Brookhurst Street just after 3 a.m. because a homeless man stood in the street to stop the stolen firetruck.

The suspect tried to maneuver around the homeless man -- but Richard Lynn didn't back down.

He eventually convinced the driver to get out of the fire engine and surrender peacefully to police, saying he just wanted to prevent the suspect from getting hurt.

Police say the driver never reached speeds over 40 miles per hour and no one was injured.

There was only minor damage to the firetruck, which was inspected and driven back to its station in Garden Grove.

The suspect was arrested by Anaheim Police without further incident.

Tune in to FOX 11 Los Angeles for the latest Southern California news.

CNS contributed to this report.