Escapee Captured After Leading Officers on Brief Chase

An escapee from a Los Angeles County detention center was in custody Thursday after leading police on a two-mile chase through a Port Hueneme neighborhood in a stolen truck, authorities said.

Manuel J. Jaramillo of Pomona was arrested about 9 a.m. after he abandoned the truck and hid in a large plastic garbage can inside a private garage at 2631 Galleon Ave. in Port Hueneme, said Oxnard Police Officer Jim Adcock.

Jaramillo, 20, was jailed without bail on suspicion of evading arrest, escaping custody, vehicle theft, parole violations, possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia, and driving without a license and insurance, Adcock said.

Jaramillo was also being held on suspicion of hit-and-run for jumping out of the truck, a 1995 Toyota T-100, as it was moving and allowing it to crash into a parked truck in the 2500 block of Captains Avenue, Adcock said.

Adcock said the truck was taken from a Pomona residence on March 8.

Two juvenile girls who were riding in the truck Thursday were detained and later released to their parents, police said. The girls are from Pomona and Santa Maria.

Thursday’s chase started about 8:30 a.m. on Hemlock Street in Oxnard when Adcock tried to pull over the truck for speeding. The driver sped off, jumped a curb several blocks later and tried to hide the truck behind a row of parked cars, witnesses said.

Upon being spotted by police, the driver sped off again, running stops signs and almost hitting several parked cars, witnesses said. After leaping from the truck, the driver scaled a wall and ran from rooftop to rooftop in the community of townhouses, police said.

Oxnard and Port Hueneme police followed the driver onto the rooftops as more police officers and a canine unit inspected several townhomes.