WOODLAND HILLS : Man to Face Trial in Assault, Chase

A Woodland Hills man has been ordered to stand trial on charges resulting from an alleged assault and two-hour car chase Sunday morning, during which he drove the speed limit and obeyed most traffic signals, police said.

Ion Rada, 31, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to three counts of battery and one count each of drunk driving, evading a police officer and resisting arrest. He is being held on $25,000 bail.

Rada’s alleged crimes began shortly before 4 a.m. Sunday, when he kicked in the front door of a Canoga Park apartment where a former girlfriend once lived and attacked her parents and another man staying there, said Deputy City Atty. Kenneth Tso.

Rada left the apartment after the victims called police, Tso said. Police officers responded to the address, then left, and were still in the area when Rada returned to the apartment.

When Rada spotted police, Tso said, he got into his late-model gold Cadillac and led officers on a two-hour, slow-speed chase, with Rada hopping on and off the Ventura Freeway several times, and making numerous stops at traffic lights, but failing to pull over.

After attempting to ram police cars twice, Tso said, the suspect was finally blocked in at a CBS complex on Beverly Boulevard in Hollywood.

Rada struggled with officers, police said, and was subdued with pepper spray.

None of the victims were hospitalized, Tso said, but were battered “enough so that officers saw injuries on them.”

Rada’s trial is scheduled for June 7 in Van Nuys Municipal Court.