Kidnap Victim Escapes; Driver Captured After Chase

A man led police on a 90-minute high-speed chase down busy freeways and surface streets Thursday--in the midst of it, abducting a woman at gunpoint--before officers closed in and rammed his car to a halt.

The hostage--Shanna Parsons, 21, of Mission Viejo, who was abducted as she returned to work from lunch--escaped minutes before the crash when the vehicle slowed in traffic on the Santa Ana Freeway.

With the car moving about 30 m.p.h. and the gunman’s .357 magnum resting on his lap, Parsons saw her chance, tumbling out the door and into the traffic lanes.

Several pursuing California Highway Patrol cars came within a few yards of hitting her. But she suffered only minor bruises and a cut to her foot.

“I’m OK. Nothing’s broken,” Parsons said later as she rested in a wheelchair outside the Irvine Medical Center. “And I’m free!”

Skye Ferguson, 19, of Texas, was booked on suspicion of burglary, robbery, kidnaping, and assaulting a police officer, CHP spokesman Mel Baker said.

Officers said they believe Ferguson had robbed a woman in San Diego earlier in the day, tied her up and stole her Jaguar, heading north toward Orange County.