Driver Held After Spin Through Store

A 27-year-old Clairemont man is accused of causing extensive damage to an empty annex of a La Jolla department store Wednesday by driving his pickup into the building and circling the interior, police said.

Shortly after 1 a.m., a four-wheel-drive pickup entered the Saks Fifth Avenue department store in La Jolla through a plate glass window, police spokesman Bill Robinson said. The driver, identified by police as Donald Eugene Claypool, drove in circles, exited through another window, then ran into a tree.

The driver then backed up and re-entered the store, drove around again and exited through the hole he had created when he left the first time, Robinson said. A witness gave police a description of the truck, which had struck a light post near Prospect Place and Girard Avenue. Claypool was arrested and taken to County Jail, where he was being held on suspicion of felony vandalism, dangerous driving and driving under the influence of a controlled substance, jail officials said. His bail was set at $7,600.

A spokeswoman for Saks Fifth Avenue said the company is remodeling the annex, which previously housed the men’s department. She gave no estimate of structural damage.