Driver and Snake Snared After a 2 1/2-Hour Chase : Crime: The suspect had a 6-foot boa around his neck during the 100-m.p.h. pursuit, officers say. He was wanted for investigation of assault.

A man who had a six-foot boa constrictor wrapped around his neck led police on a frenzied, 2 1/2-hour car chase that crisscrossed the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys at speeds of more than 100 m.p.h., authorities said Monday.

Steven Paul Moore, 32, of Lake View Terrace, was arrested after the 180-mile pursuit Sunday night when a California Highway Patrol car rammed and disabled his car in Agoura Hills, authorities said.

Moore was being held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon--his car--and evading police. Los Angeles police said he was under the influence of numerous drugs, including alcohol, PCP and methamphetamine.

Capt. Valentino Paniccia, head of patrol in the Foothill Division, where the chase began, said authorities probably also will seek charges of driving under the influence.

The pursuit began at 8:30 p.m. in the 11900 block of Gager Street in Lake View Terrace and covered freeways and surface streets in La Canada Flintridge, Castaic, Chatsworth, Canoga Park and Woodland Hills, police said.

The driver traveled “at high speeds for most of 2 hours and 35 minutes,” said CHP Officer Randy Shields. “This was so wild--it was going on and off the freeways. The suspect backed up, made U-turns, went the wrong way against traffic.”

The pursuit began after patrol officers went to Moore’s home to investigate a report that a woman had been assaulted there. It was unclear if authorities planned to proceed with an assault charge.

Police said that as they approached his house, Moore sped away in his 1986 Dodge with his pet snake in tow.

The car took a circuitous route through the northeast San Fernando Valley before entering the Foothill Freeway, where it reached speeds of 120 m.p.h., police said. The car went through Glendale and La Canada Flintridge, where it left the freeway but immediately re-entered it.

Officers following the car reported seeing the snake wrapped around the driver’s neck at various times during the pursuit. The car reached the Golden State Freeway and headed north to Valencia where the Highway Patrol joined the pursuit.

In Valencia, the car repeatedly left the freeway and re-entered it traveling in the wrong direction, authorities said. CHP officers stopped traffic when the suspect was on the freeway, and there were no collisions.

The pursuit reached as far north as Hasley Canyon Road, near Castaic, before the suspect turned around and headed back toward Los Angeles.

Officers said the driver ended up on the Ventura Freeway, took the Cheseboro Road exit in Agoura Hills and rammed a waiting CHP car. Shields said Moore’s car was still moving when it was rammed by a second CHP car and brought to a stop.

There were no injuries. Moore was arrested and taken to County-USC Medical Center for treatment of drug ingestion. The snake was found in the back seat unharmed and was taken by animal control officers.

Paniccia said he will review his officers’ involvement.

Paniccia was off duty and informed of the chase at his Chatsworth home. Half an hour later, he said, the fleeing car, two patrol cars and a helicopter passed by. “I saw it firsthand,” he said.