Arrest Ends Nighttime Boat Chase

The blue light atop the sheriff’s Harbor Patrol boat went on, then the siren. But instead of stopping, deputies said, the captain of the 24-foot Sea Ray cabin cruiser they were hailing acted as if he had heard a starter’s pistol.

He sped away, starting a 5 1/2-hour nighttime chase through Newport Harbor, around Balboa Pier, and three miles into the Pacific Ocean at speeds approaching 30 mph.

It didn’t end until the sun came up and deputies could safely board the boat, which had been throttled back and was bobbing on the waves.

Once on board, deputies said, they found and arrested Philip Frazier, who had fallen asleep, or into a drug-induced state of unconsciousness, on the deck of his boat.

A different way of sleeping with the fishes.

After Frazier roared out of the harbor at around 12:30 a.m. Friday, the patrol boat followed him for about an hour as he steered in circles and figure 8’s, said Deputy John Luderman, who was chasing him. At 30 mph, the patrol boat was at top speed. But unlike a “Baywatch” craft, it is seldom forced to chase other boats.

While evading the Harbor Patrol, Frazier called his mother on his cell phone, telling her that he was considering suicide and that he had guns aboard and wouldn’t surrender. He also told her he had a bottle of Valium. His mother called Coast Guard officials in Long Beach, who relayed the information to the Harbor Patrol.

Once they heard about the guns, the deputies backed off to about 100 yards and followed Frazier on radar. “When you’re talking boats confronting boats, you don’t have much cover if somebody starts shooting,” Sgt. Ron Peoples said.

Frazier cut the engine, and for the next several hours his boat drifted on the calm sea, with the deputies watching from a distance in the dark.

Harbor patrol boats from Dana Point and Newport Beach came out to join the flotilla.

A patrol boat moved within 50 yards, and the hostage-negotiation team tried for 10 minutes to talk to the 39-year-old Frazier through the public address system.

There was no response.

The deputies thought Frazier looked asleep. But they couldn’t see his hands to see whether he was armed or if any guns were nearby, deputies said. They also worried that he might kill himself if deputies approached.

As the sun came up around 5:45 a.m. and commercial fishing boats began to head to sea, the Harbor Patrol moved closer. Frazier still looked asleep. Five deputies boarded Frazier’s boat. They found him unconscious and took him into custody without a struggle.

Deputies found no guns on board, but they did find a prescription bottle of Valium, Peoples said.

Frazier was arrested on suspicion of boating under the influence and evading arrest. He was taken to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach for blood tests and then booked into the Orange County Jail. He was released on bail.

The Harbor Patrol towed his boat back to the harbor, where it was impounded. Frazier lived on the boat, which had been docked in De Anza Marina in Newport Beach.

Frazier hadn’t picked up the boat as of Saturday afternoon.