Ventura Chase Suspect Is Found Hiding in Back Yard

A high-speed chase along a Ventura thoroughfare ended in a quiet residential neighborhood Thursday when a homeowner called police to tell them their suspect was hiding in his back yard.

A police dog found Ronald Franklin, 23, of Ventura hiding under a wagon in a yard in the 2800 block of Mohawk Avenue about 1 1/2 hours after the chase. Franklin had been carrying a sawed-off shotgun, stolen electronic equipment and unspecified illegal drugs in a stolen vehicle, Sgt. Darin Schindler said.

Franklin had fled from Officer Jason Pray after Pray tried to pull him over for speeding at El Medio Street and Ventura Avenue. Franklin took off down the avenue, at more than 90 mph for a short distance, before losing control of the vehicle, Schindler said.

The car fishtailed and hit a chain-link fence. The driver escaped on foot.

With nowhere to go, he scrambled -- sometimes on his hands and knees -- up a steep hill near several oil wells on unincorporated county land, authorities said. “I was surprised he got up there,” Schindler said. “That’s a pretty steep incline.”

The hill was too steep for the officers in pursuit to climb and they lost track of the suspect. The police then surrounded the neighborhood and dispatched a helicopter and a dog to help with the search.

Ninety minutes later, a neighborhood man called to tell police he thought the suspect was hiding in his back yard, about a mile from where he had escaped from officers. Police had earlier notified residents that a suspect was loose in the vicinity.

“He’d crouched down in a corner and laid a wagon over him,” Schindler said.

Franklin refused to come out from under the wagon, and a police dog was sent in. The dog bit Franklin on the arm and leg and the suspect was arrested shortly thereafter, police said.

Franklin was taken to Ventura County Medical Center for treatment and was booked on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle, evading arrest, possession of narcotics and possession of anillegal weapon. The vehicle had been stolen in Kern County on Wednesday, police said.