OXNARD : Carjacking Suspect Arrested After Chase

An Oxnard man suspected of carjacking led police on a high-speed pursuit Saturday from Pico Rivera in Los Angeles County to the La Colonia area of Oxnard, where he crashed about 15 feet from a house, authorities said.

Los Angeles County sheriff’s investigators identified the suspect as Jose Roman Hernandez, 32. He was arrested by Oxnard police but was being transported back to Los Angeles County for booking on suspicion of carjacking.

No one was injured in the pursuit, which reached speeds of more than 90 m.p.h., investigators said.

The incident began about 2 p.m. in the parking lot of a shopping center in Pico Rivera, investigators said. An off-duty police officer saw the car run a red light as it sped away, and he used a car phone to alert police.

Investigators later learned that a carjacker armed with a screwdriver had taken the vehicle from a 32-year-old man at the shopping center.

The chase proceeded through Los Angeles and then into Ventura County, where the driver exited the Ventura Freeway at Rose Avenue.

The suspect “was actually driving fairly good until the end,” said California Highway Patrol Officer R.J. Erikson, who participated in the pursuit and arrest. “He was using his turn signals most of the time. There were only a few times on the freeway where I thought he was in trouble.”

Chased by CHP and Oxnard police units, the suspect crashed into an iron fence in front of a house at 905 E. Cooper Road about 3:30 p.m.

“We heard a very loud bang,” said Lupe Mendoza, 21, who lives at the house. “We looked out and saw this guy had crashed through our gate. He was trying to get away but was pinned in the car.”

The late-model, white Oldsmobile Ciera came to a stop about 15 feet from a bedroom window.