NEWPORT BEACH : Man Held After Cars Struck in Police Lot
Police arrested a man early Friday after he allegedly damaged three police cars in what authorities described as a drunken rampage through the parking lot of police headquarters.
John Douglas Eilertson, 30, an unemployed pilot from Newport Beach, was arrested at 3:45 a.m. after a police officer saw him leave the parking lot in a 1987 Ford pickup, department spokesman Sgt. Andy Gonis said.
“The officer was leaving the station and heard a crash. Then she saw a pickup truck driving out from the back of the lot, which is a restricted area,” Gonis said. “She chased down the vehicle, which headed the wrong way on Santa Barbara and then back into the parking lot, where it collided with two more vehicles before it finally came to a stop.”
Three police cars were damaged in the incident: an animal-control car, an unmarked squad car and a parking-attendant car. Eilertson was charged with driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol and was being held at the Newport Beach jail, Gonis said.
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