SAN DIEGO -- Officers used a tire-flattening device to stop an auto-theft suspect who led them on a chase from Miramar to La Jolla Wednesday morning, but the man managed to escape by crawling into a drainage pipe.

The pursuit began about 2:30 a.m. on Miramar Road, near Carroll Canyon Road, according to San Diego police.

Officers in several cruisers chased the vehicle onto northbound Interstate 805, then southbound I-5. Near La Jolla Village Drive, the stolen car ran over a spike strip that police had laid across the freeway.

Despite driving on shredded tires, the suspect traveled about another mile before stopping the disabled vehicle and abandoning it near Gilman Drive about 2:35 a.m., SDPD spokeswoman Monica Munoz said.

The man then disappeared into a nearby 30-inch-diameter drainage channel that runs under the freeway.

Officers stationed themselves at several known outlets of the runoff line for about a half-hour before calling off the manhunt.

The suspect remained at large at midday, Munoz said.