4-Hour Car Chase Ends With Arrest of Fugitive

An Arleta man who is accused of leading police on a televised car chase from Santa Clarita to Ventura County on Monday was being sought by police on a $1.52-million arrest warrant in connection with an attempted murder in November.

David Lester Van Deventer, 40, was arrested by California Highway Patrol officers near Oxnard after a four-hour chase that started about 2:50 a.m. on the Golden State Freeway, continued on the San Diego Freeway and ended on Pacific Coast Highway. The 1993 white van he was driving was reported stolen from the area covered by the Los Angeles Police Department’s North Hollywood Division.

Van Deventer surrendered after a CHP officer flattened one of the van’s tires with a spike strip and the drive shaft fell off. He was booked into Ventura County Jail on suspicion of possessing stolen property and evading police, said Sgt. Bruce Clark of the CHP office in Ventura.

“He was absolutely peaceful,” Clark said. “He lay down face first on the asphalt, spread-eagle, and gave us no problems after that.”

Homicide detectives in the Foothill Division had been looking for Van Deventer in connection with the November shooting of a Sylmar man, said Det. Terrance Young.

Van Deventer went to the home where his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend was staying on Nov. 22, Young said. After arguing with the boyfriend over the woman, Van Deventer allegedly fired a pistol at the man, who raised a hand to block the shot, Young said. The bullet lodged in the man’s hand.

“He was pretty lucky the round did not penetrate his hand and enter his upper body, where it could have killed him,” Young said.

Van Deventer was convicted in 1995 of petty theft in Newhall. In 1996, he was sentenced to a year in jail and three years’ probation and had his driver’s license suspended for a year for driving a car without the owner’s consent. He had been charged with felony grand theft of a 1989 Dodge Omni but pleaded no contest to the lesser charge, according to court records.

A year later, he was convicted of petty theft again and sentenced to 20 days in jail.

On Feb. 2, 1998, Van Deventer was sentenced to 16 months in state prison for violating probation. The judge gave him 365 days credit for time served and allowed him to serve a concurrent sentence for possession of a controlled substance in a Pasadena court.

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Times staff writer Caitlin Liu contributed to this story.