Youth Killed When Errand Takes Him in Path of Police Chase : Tragedy: A teen-ager on his way to pick up a typewriter ribbon dies after his car is hit by a fleeing vehicle. Three suspects are arrested and fourth is sought.

German Basulto Jr. told his parents he would be right back.

The 17-year-old hopped into his car shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday for a three-block ride to pick up a typewriter ribbon so he could finish a paper for a class at Citrus Community College.

When he didn’t return within 10 minutes, his mother and father began to worry. Then they heard helicopters and police sirens.

His father lunged out of bed and into his car and drove the few blocks to the commotion fearing the worst. There, at an intersection just behind his home, German Basulto Sr. came upon his son’s mangled 1988 Toyota Corolla.

His son--already en route to the hospital--had been fatally injured when his car was struck by a Cadillac being pursued by Pasadena police in a seven-mile chase that reached speeds of up to 100 m.p.h. on the Foothill Freeway, Pasadena police said Wednesday.

Police said they were holding three men from the car involved in the chase on suspicion of murder. They were searching for a fourth person who fled on foot after the collision, said Cmdr. Gary A. Bennett. The four are suspected gang members from Monrovia and Duarte, he said.

The three suspects, being held Wednesday without bail at County-USC Medical Center, are Derek Johnson, 31, of Monrovia, and Armando Simmons, 27, and Demetrius Reed, 20, both of Duarte. All three were treated for minor injuries sustained in the crash. The name of the fourth suspect, a 24-year-old parolee from Duarte, was not released.

Bennett said the high-speed chase began at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday when Pasadena police officers heard several gunshots near Fair Oaks Avenue and Painter Street. Officers tried unsuccessfully to pull over a 1978 Cadillac that was speeding through a parking lot with four men inside.

Two police cars and a helicopter chased the car east on the Foothill Freeway to the Myrtle Avenue exit in Monrovia. The Cadillac ran a red light at the bottom of a hill and smashed into Basulto’s car, then careened into a cinder-block wall and burst into flames.

The teen-ager, who was not wearing a seat belt, was thrown 75 feet from his car. He died shortly after arrival at Methodist Hospital of Southern California.

Bennett said he did not know how fast the suspects’ car was traveling when it struck Basulto’s auto, how close the officers were to the suspects’ car or how many officers were involved.

But the officers were following department rules on high-speed chases, Bennett said. “At this point I’m comfortable policies were followed,” he said.

Investigators did not find weapons at the scene and do not know whether the gunfire that led to the chase came from the Cadillac, Bennett said.

Wednesday morning, friends and family members gathered at the Basultos’ small Monrovia house to mourn the death of German, who was last year’s senior class president at Monrovia High School.

German Basulto Sr., a 49-year-old machinist, was red-eyed and weary. His wife, Linda Basulto, 47, had cried all night, he said.

His son was studying to be a child psychologist, Basulto said. He pulled from his pocket a photo key chain with a picture of his son, in a white tuxedo, with a girlfriend at last year’s senior prom.

Basulto, a Mexican immigrant with three other children, said his son was a top student with a lot of friends. Through an interpreter, Basulto said in Spanish that he does not understand why police conducted a high-speed chase through a residential area.

“They have all the experience,” he said, shaking his head. “They should have blocked the roadways or done something to keep from speeding through.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.