Countywide : Car Thief Caught After Freeway Chase

A man stole a car in Oxnard on Friday and drove it to a Santa Paula car dealership, where he stole a truck and abducted a salesman before leading police on a 2 1/2-mile freeway chase, police said.

The chase ended when the suspect crashed the truck into a parked car in Oak View, police said.

The incident began Friday morning after the unidentified man stole a Dodge Omni from an Oxnard business and drove to Gould Ford in Santa Paula, where he asked to test drive a Dodge Dakota truck, authorities said.

But the man, because he was driving a “beat-up car with a missing radio,” didn’t appear trustworthy, said General Sales Manager Jim Cory.

“My salesman elected to go with him because he looked of suspicious character,” Cory said of the man, who bore a “scruffy-looking mustache and goatee.” Usually, customers are allowed test-drive cars without a salesperson accompanying them.

After stopping at a flower shop and restaurant in Ventura, the suspect forced the salesman out of the vehicle at knifepoint, authorities said.

“It wound up a bad ride,” joked Cory, who said the salesman was “a little bit shook up. He might be a little bit apprehensive about the next test-drive.”

After abandoning the salesman in Ventura, the suspect continued toward Ojai, where the California Highway Patrol began chasing him at about 10:30 a.m. Three minutes later, the man crashed into a parked car off California 33 on Old Grade Road, authorities said.

The suspect, who was being held at Ventura County Jail, was treated for moderate injuries at Ojai Valley Community Hospital, authorities said.