Chase Ends in Distraught Man’s Death

A distraught Westlake Village man died Sunday morning after leading police on a chase and slamming his car into a concrete wall, authorities said.

The tragedy began to unfold about 8 a.m., when Guy James McCracken, 29, showed up at his parents’ Westlake Village home and made statements that led family members to erroneously believe he was armed, Sheriff’s Deputy Carrie Stuart said.

McCracken asked his mother to leave the house with him, but she refused and called her husband, who was at another location, to tell him that something was wrong with their son, Stuart said.

When McCracken’s mother got off the phone she found her son in front of the house inside his car, Stuart said. Meanwhile, believing his son was armed, McCracken’s father called the Sheriff’s Department’s Lost Hills station for help.

“He had made a statement to family members that led them to believe that he was unstable and possibly a danger to himself,” Stuart said. The Sheriff’s Department declined to elaborate on what McCracken said to family members.

As the deputies approached the home, they were flagged down by McCracken’s mother, who gave them a description of the car.

They spotted McCracken in his Nissan Sentra a few blocks away, but he took off, prompting deputies to activate their red lights, Stuart said. A three-mile pursuit by two patrol cars ended when McCracken’s car slammed into a hill reinforced by concrete in the 30100 block of Agoura Road near Reyes Adobe Road.

McCracken was pronounced dead at the scene, Stuart said. Witnesses told investigators that it appeared that McCracken intentionally drove his car into the wall and estimated he was traveling at 60 mph. No skid marks were found at the crash site, suggesting that he did not lose control of his car before the crash.

No weapon was recovered from the crash scene. McCracken’s death was being investigated as an apparent suicide.