Ventura Police Department – Incident Press Release
On April 15th at 2:05 PM an officer was patrolling the area of Valentine Rd. and Sperry Ave., when he observed a suspicious vehicle and ran the license plate. The vehicle, which was occupied by several subjects, came back as a reported stolen vehicle out of Ventura. As the vehicle continued driving, the officer waited for additional officers to arrive before attempting to stop it. The driver, a 15-year-old male juvenile, failed to yield and a pursuit was initiated.
The pursuit continued traveling on various streets in the industrial area between Market St. and Valentine Rd. and Sperry Ave., during which time the driver drove at speeds between 40-50 mph, and ran a stop sign and red light. As the vehicle was going northbound on Knoll Dr., officers deployed a spike strip in an attempt to disable the vehicle. The driver avoided hitting the spike strip and ran a stop sign. As the vehicle entered the intersection of Knoll Dr. and Valentine Rd., it collided into a vehicle that was traveling eastbound on Valentine Rd. The stolen vehicle sustained major damage from the collision and caught fire.
The 15-year-old driver and two juvenile passengers were detained at the vehicle, while two of the other passengers fled from the vehicle on foot and ran across both southbound and northbound lanes of Highway 101. Officers chased the two passengers, both 15-year-old male juveniles, and caught them on the other side of the highway after they jumped into a water culvert. The Ventura City Fire was called to help free them from the culvert.
The driver was arrested for felony evading arrest in a vehicle and driving a stolen vehicle. The two passengers who fled from the vehicle on foot were arrested for resisting arrest.
The vehicle that was hit by the stolen vehicle sustained major damage. The two occupants of that vehicle were transported to VCMC with minor injuries.
The intersection was closed for approximately 1.5 hours while the Ventura Police Traffic unit conducted the accident investigation.
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