Arsonist who Killed Calif. Firefighter Chopper Pilot Commits Suicide

Aug. 05--SAN BERNARDINO -- A Hesperia resident on felony probation allegedly committed suicide Saturday afternoon by crashing a stolen vehicle into a concrete bridge pillar at the Guthrie Interchange of the 215 and 10 interstates, authorities said.

Cary Thomas Meeks, 43, led sheriff's deputies on a high-speed pursuit Saturday, reaching speeds in excess of 100 mph, according to a news release by Sgt. G. Wheeler of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.

Meeks was convicted in 1998 of second degree murder for the 3,700-acre Hemlock Fire that killed firefighter helicopter pilot Floyd Hiser, according to court documents.

Before Saturday's fatal collision, deputies were investigating Meeks after Ricardo Guerrera, 61, of Fontana, reported Meeks had cut his throat at about 4:44 p.m. Saturday, according to the report.

Guerrera told deputies from the Central Patrol Station "his throat had been slashed" by Meeks. Paramedics and fire personnel treated Guerrera for a "large cut to his neck/throat area," the sheriff's department release stated.

After identifying the suspect as Meeks, the sheriff's department dispatch center in Hesperia received a 911 call from San Bernardino resident John Ashton Sampson, 73, who reported that he was being car jacked by a man of Meeks' description: bald head, mustache and goatee.

While in the vehicle with Meeks, Sampson notified the dispatch center of his location on southbound I-15 in the Cajon Pass.

After locating the vehicle in the area of I-215 and Devore Road, deputies followed the car and attempted to stop the vehicle by activating emergency lights and sirens.

Meeks stopped the vehicle on the interstate near Kendall Drive and Palm Avenue, where he let Sampson out. Meeks told him that he was going to kill himself, according to the report.

Ignoring attempts by the deputies to stop him, Meeks took the deputies on a high-speed pursuit near the Guthrie Interchange, where he steered his vehicle directly into a "concrete bridge pillar supporting the connecting road from the westbound 10 freeway to the southbound 215 freeway," where the vehicle immediately caught fire, the report stated.

Meeks was on felony probation for being an ex-felon in possession of a firearm. As a result of Assembly Bill 109 and AB 117, he was out of custody on release for the same criminal charges through post-release community supervision at the county level, according to sheriff's officials.

Jim E. Winburn can be reached at [email protected] or at 760-955-5468.

Copyright 2013 - Daily Press, Victorville, Calif.