Speeding Car Hits Wall; 2 Injured : Newbury Park: The accident ends a high-speed chase on the Ventura Freeway. The driver and his passenger are listed in critical condition.

A Chatsworth man crashed his sedan into a brick wall in Newbury Park after leading authorities on a harrowing chase along the Ventura Freeway that reached speeds of 115 m.p.h.

Throughout the chase, the driver kept his car lights off as he sped south on the freeway toward Los Angeles, spokesmen for the Ventura Police Department and the California Highway Patrol said.

Authorities said it was fortunate that the incident happened late Sunday when traffic was light. Otherwise, multiple injuries or fatalities could have resulted, they said.

The driver, John Turner, 20, was in critical condition Monday at Los Robles Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, a hospital spokeswoman said.

A passenger, Hanz Hoffman, 22, of Canoga Park, underwent surgery at the hospital. He was listed in critical condition Monday night.

“It’s amazing the passenger is alive,” said Deputy William Therrien, a Sheriff’s Department senior traffic officer. “The car was wrapped around the brick wall (on the passenger’s side). It looked like a pretzel.”

Neither Turner nor Hoffman was wearing a seat belt, Therrien said.

The pursuit began in Ventura at California Street and Thompson Boulevard when a police car tried to pull over Turner’s vehicle on suspicion that he was driving under the influence of alcohol, a Sheriff’s Department report said.

At that point, Turner turned off his headlights and accelerated toward the freeway, authorities said.

At Pleasant Valley Road, two California Highway Patrol cars took up the chase. Turner hit speeds of from 100 to 115 m.p.h., authorities said.

“A lot of people are lucky it was Sunday night,” Sheriff’s Sgt. Will Howe said. “Things (can) happen rather quickly at 100 miles an hour.”

The Mustang took the Ventu Park Road exit at 11:35 p.m. and slammed into the brick wall at an unoccupied housing development, authorities said.

The impact was such that it took Thousand Oaks firemen more than 40 minutes to extract Turner and Hoffman from the wreckage.

Authorities speculated that Turner panicked when police attempted to pull him over in Ventura because there is an outstanding warrant for his arrest on a felony stolen property charge.

Neither Turner nor Hoffman will be booked on suspicion of driving under the influence. Instead, they will be charged with evading law enforcement officers, which is a felony, and reckless driving, Howe said.

“It was crazy,” Therrien said. “You’d think those guys would at least use seat belts.”