Motor-Home Chase Ends in 2 Arrests

Two burglary suspects led sheriff’s deputies on a short chase in Camarillo on Thursday before their 26-foot motor home collided with another vehicle and flipped onto its side in a busy intersection just as the morning commute was getting underway.

Delmar Thompson, 53, of Lynwood and Stacie Albisurez, 26, of Hermosa Beach were arrested on suspicion of burglary. Thompson also was booked on suspicion of reckless evading.

No one was seriously hurt in the 6 a.m. crash, but the accident closed the intersection of Arneill Road and Ponderosa Drive for six hours and snarled traffic on surrounding streets in the heart of the business district.

“It was a spectacular crash,” said Sgt. Tom Bennett, who is in charge of the traffic bureau for the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department substation in Camarillo. “We don’t get this a lot.”

A deputy responding to a burglar alarm at a phone store on Daily Drive spotted the motor home and walked toward it. When the motor home sped away, the deputy ran back to his patrol car and gave chase with lights on and siren blaring.

After a short distance, the motor home ran through a red light at Arneill and Ponderosa and slammed into a Ford pickup driven by William Lynch, 31, of Camarillo. Both vehicles flipped onto their sides, and the pickup was bent into a U-shape, authorities said.

Lynch was treated for minor injuries at a local hospital. Thompson and Albisurez were taken to St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard, where they were treated.

A safe that was allegedly taken from the phone store was found in the motor home, which was not registered to either suspect, Bennett said.