Moorpark Man Escapes in Patrol Car
Ventura County sheriff’s deputies were searching late Sunday for a Moorpark man who escaped from custody by stealing a patrol car.
Barrett Stites, 30, whom authorities described as suicidal, was arrested Sunday afternoon on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and evading arrest after allegedly leading deputies on a high-speed pursuit and attempting to hit them with his car.
As he was being driven to Ventura County Medical Center for evaluation about 6 p.m., Stites manipulated his handcuffs to the front of his body, said Sgt. Ron Nelson, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman.
The deputy driving him pulled over to re-cuff the suspect, when Stites allegedly kicked the screen between the front and back seat of the patrol car, climbed behind the wheel and drove off, Nelson said.
The patrol car was located near Sunnyglen and Mountain Meadow drives in Moorpark by a global satellite positioning system a short time later.
Deputies searched for Stites using dogs and a helicopter with an infrared device, Nelson said. A door-to-door search in the Mountain Meadow housing development was unsuccessful.
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