Kidnap of Officer Ends With Marine’s Arrest

A California Highway Patrolman was kidnaped and forced--at the point of his own revolver--to drive an emotionally disturbed Marine on freeways and back roads of Riverside and San Bernardino counties Saturday, with lawmen from three counties in hot pursuit, the CHP said.

The chase finally ended when the suspect surrendered at a crossroads near Ontario International Airport, threw down the stolen weapon and was handcuffed by the officer he had held prisoner.

A Highway Patrol spokesman said the trouble began about 3:10 p.m., when Officer Douglas Earnest, 45, a 19-year veteran of the CHP, saw a man crawl out the side window of what was described only as a tour bus that had stopped--for reasons still unclear--in the wide median strip of the Riverside Freeway, near Corona.

The spokesman said the man, later identified as Vincent Muti, 21, a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, told him that he had “escaped” from the bus because “they all have guns in there.”

Earnest told investigators that he asked Muti to get into his car--a specially built high-speed pursuit vehicle--and told him he would have to be handcuffed while he was inside because it was a department rule. But Muti objected, scuffled with Earnest, and took the officer’s pistol from its holster.

With his own revolver pressed to his head, Earnest obeyed Muti’s orders to drive away.

But two off-duty Anaheim police officers and a civilian, Russell Leeper of West Covina, had seen the incident.

All three followed the CHP car as it hit speeds of 60 and 70 m.p.h. on back roads and freeways leading north and west, and Leeper used his car telephone to call the 911 emergency number.

Leeper remained in contact with police and gave directions that eventually allowed four more CHP vehicles, sheriff’s units from Riverside and San Bernardino counties and police cars from Ontario to join the pursuit, circling the outskirts of Ontario International Airport.

Muti finally let Earnest stop the car beside a service station at G Street and Archibald Avenue, where he threw the officer’s revolver out the window.

He was promptly seized by Earnest, who dragged him from the car and handcuffed him.

Riverside sheriff’s deputies booked Muti on suspicion of kidnaping and assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon. Earnest was taken to Ontario Community Hospital for observation.