Dog Steals Final Scene as Man Bows Out of Chase Drama

A Los Angeles man was in custody Saturday after he allegedly stole a car from a 61-year-old woman and led deputies on a 10-minute chase, causing several minor traffic accidents and ramming a police car before a growling pet Doberman pinscher induced him to surrender.

Louis King, 25, was arrested on suspicion of robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, assault on a peace officer and at least 10 driving offenses, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Lt. Bill McSweeney.

The chase began about 1:20 p.m. when King allegedly jumped into Burnice Wilson’s 1986 Cadillac as she got out of the car to retrieve some forgotten food from a Carl’s Jr. restaurant on Kanan Dume Road in Agoura Hills, McSweeney said.

Wilson spotted the man, screamed and flung her arms through the open car window, McSweeney said. The man drove off with Wilson clinging to his head, before she fell to the pavement in the restaurant parking lot, he said.

Wilson, of Thousand Oaks, suffered minor scratches on her arms and legs, McSweeney said.

The Cadillac went south on Kanan Dume Road, and within about a minute, struck a Datsun near the Ventura Freeway. Deputy Russ Hills, who witnessed the crash, set out to investigate what he thought was a routine fender-bender, but the Cadillac sped away. Hill pursued.

As the Cadillac headed down Kanan Dume Road, two more more patrol cars joined the chase, which wound for several minutes through Agoura Hills. The Cadillac was traveling about 40 m.p.h.--within the legal speed limit--except for a few brief periods when it hit 60 m.p.h., McSweeney said.

The pursuit wound through the streets of Agoura. At one point the big car pulled into a Silver Creek Road driveway and slammed into a tree, but backed out as police drove up, McSweeney said. Another time, deputies cornered the Cadillac, but the driver reversed the car and rammed a pursuing police car three times, then sped off again.

Several minutes later, while turning south from Thousand Oaks Boulevard to Middlecrest Road, the Cadillac struck a pickup truck head on, but both vehicles were traveling so slowly that no one was injured, McSweeney said.

Attempted to Hop Fence

The chase came to an end when the fleeing driver went into a cul de sac on Middlecrest Road and attempted to climb a wrought-iron fence surrounding a home.

“He was about to hop the fence when a Doberman pinscher looked displeased,” McSweeney said. “When he saw that his choices were us or a Doberman pinscher, he decided to surrender.”

Neither the suspect nor the deputies were injured.

King was being held at Malibu Sheriff’s Station in lieu of $6,000 bail, McSweeney said.