A pursuit and standoff forced the CHP to shut down Interstate 10 for several hours Sunday, sending a surge of traffic through the Morongo Basin West on State Route 62. Officials began chasing Imelda Sortino, a San Diego woman, about 9 a.m. who was driving recklessly through the San Gorgonio Pass. The 53-year-old was driving a 2003 Gulf Stream motor home. An officer tried to stop her on eastbound I-10 near Highway 62, but she wouldn’t pull over. Officials placed a spike strip across the freeway east of Dillon Road, and the motor home’s tires were damaged. The chase ended just west of Eagle Mountain Road, about 40 miles east of where officers laid the spike strip. Sortino refused to exit the vehicle, a standoff ensued, and all lanes were shut down about 10:30 a.m. CHP Officers eventually entered the vehicle and arrested Sortino on suspicion of failing to yield. Westbound lanes were blocked at Eagle Mountain Road, and reopened about 1:30 p.m.; eastbound traffic was blocked at Box Canyon Road before opening just before 2 p.m.
