Man Killed When His Car Is Hit in High-Speed Chase

A police pursuit that reached speeds in excess of 100 mph ended Thursday evening when the driver of a stolen car that was being chased struck another vehicle, killing its driver, authorities said.

The collision occurred shortly after 5 p.m. at Tierra Rejada Road and Village Parkway in Simi Valley, near the entrance to the Friendly Village mobile home park, Sheriff’s Capt. Keith Parks said.

“When you have a police pursuit with people driving so fast, you know something bad is going to happen. It’s so upsetting,” said resident Barbara Cardilino, who walked from her mobile home to view the wreckage.

The identity of the male driver, who was killed instantly, was being withheld late Thursday pending notification of relatives, authorities said.

Deputies believe the victim was driving east on Tierra Rejada Road when his Ford Mustang was rear-ended by a stolen 1968 Pontiac GTO driven by a man who later identified himself to authorities as 37-year-old Luis Rodriguez Espinosa.

Parks, however, said deputies were not able to confirm Espinosa’s identity. Consequently, he said, authorities planned to book him into County Jail with a request for a $1-million bail.

The impact caused the Mustang to flip. The car then slammed into a telephone pole and struck a bicyclist before coming to rest in a field more than 75 feet away, authorities said.

The bicyclist, 58-year-old Charles Roberts of Simi Valley, was pinned under the Mustang and firefighters had to use a mechanical devise to free him, authorities said. Roberts was not seriously injured, deputies said.

Because the crash caused a massive traffic backup on Tierra Rejada Road, Roberts was airlifted to Simi Valley Hospital, where was treated and released Thursday night, deputies said.

Espinosa abandoned the GTO at the crash site and ran away but was immediately apprehended by deputies, authorities said.

He was treated at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks for minor injuries suffered in the crash and released to the custody of deputies late Thursday.

Espinosa, described by deputies as a transient, was jailed on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter, evading arrest, drunk driving and grand theft auto, according to Parks.

The pursuit began after sheriff’s deputies got a call about 5 p.m. that a GTO had been stolen from the 1900 block of Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. The suspected stolen car was seen minutes later moving north on California 23.

Parks said the chase began when Espinosa failed to stop for deputies. Espinosa got off the freeway at Tierra Rejada Road and sped east into Simi Valley at speeds topping 100 mph, authorities said.

Parks would not say how fast the deputies were driving or how close they were to the vehicle during the pursuit.