Man Forces Woman to Drive to Grove
A woman driving in East Ventura narrowly avoided sexual assault Thursday afternoon after an unidentified man jumped into the passenger seat of her car, pulled out a gun and forced her to drive to a desolate road, police said.
The woman, whom police did not identify, had stopped at a traffic light at the corner of Saratoga Street and Telephone Road about 4 p.m. when the man entered her car and had her drive to an orange grove at Aliso Canyon, police said.
As the man tried to sexually assault the motorist, she reached for a container of pepper spray. When he saw the container of chemical repellent, he jumped from the car and ran into the grove, according to police. The woman, who is in her mid-20s, drove to a residence nearby and notified authorities.
The Ventura police--with the help of the Sheriff’s Department, which sent a helicopter--searched for the man for about an hour.
The man, who was still at large Thursday evening, was described as a Latino, between the ages of 35 and 38, 5-foot-6-inches tall and weighing about 165 pounds, police said.
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