Man pleads not guilty to leading pursuit after carjacking Huntington Beach police car

A man pleaded not guilty to carjacking a Huntington Beach Police Department vehicle and leading officers on a pursuit on Friday. 

Lilton Bernardt Dooley, 56, was charged on Thursday with one count of carjacking, five counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, one count of leading police on a chase and one count of resisting arrest for the incident that happened on Monday. All charges are felonies. 

It happened at around 11:30 p.m. when Dooley was first pulled over for a traffic violation, during which he was arrested, according to Huntington Beach city spokesperson Jennifer Carey. 

During the incident, he "claimed to be having a medical emergency," so officers took him to a nearby hospital to get treated, at which point Carey fled. 

While running, he jumped into an HBPD patrol car and led officers on a chase that lasted until Lakewood, where he got out and ran on foot before barricading inside of a nearby neighborhood. 

After some time he surrendered to officers. 

Dooley, who has past felony convictions, also faces vandalism and grand theft charges for an incident on July 29, 2024, when he allegedly smashed the window of a Dodge Ram pickup truck in Irvine.

He is due in court on Feb. 3 for a pretrial hearing in the West Justice Center in Westminster.