OXNARD : 8 Arrested After High-Speed Chase

Eight teen-agers beat up a man in Oxnard, stole his car and then led police on a chase that ended when the car collided with another automobile that then crashed into the garage of a Ventura fire station, authorities said Tuesday.

Joel Rojas, 19, and seven male juveniles were arrested on suspicion of robbery, auto theft, hit-and-run driving and possession of stolen property, police said.

Rojas was being held in the Ventura County Jail in lieu of $5,300 bail, a jail spokesman said. The others were placed in juvenile hall.

About 10 p.m. Monday, a group of teen-agers confronted Vidal Barajas, who was waiting in his car for a friend in an alley off the 500 block of Cuesta Del Mar, Oxnard Police Sgt. Jeff Young said.

Barajas said the youths pulled him out of his car, beat him and drove away in his car, Young said. They drove to a nearby convenience market, where food, wine coolers and other merchandise were stolen, Young said.

The teen-agers were seen by Oxnard Police Sgt. Gene Thayer speeding near Ventura Road and Doris Avenue after leaving the store, authorities said.

Thayer chased the car north on Victoria Avenue nearing speeds of 100 m.p.h. as they entered Ventura, Young said.

Four Oxnard police cars and units from the Ventura Police Department and the California Highway Patrol joined the chase, Young said.

In Ventura, the car ran a red light at Telegraph Road and Victoria Avenue, broadsiding a car driven by Jay Drummond Jr. of Port Hueneme, Oxnard Detective K.J. Kent said.

The impact knocked Drummond’s car into the fire station at 5838 Telegraph Road, through the station’s 30-foot fiberglass garage door and into a Fire Department pickup, which then hit a 28-foot hazardous materials trailer, acting platoon Cmdr. Mike Lavery said.

Four of the suspects were taken into custody, Kent said. Three more were apprehended after a brief foot pursuit. The eighth teen-ager was arrested after he was captured by an area resident, Kent said.