Man Arrested After 80-Mile Auto Chase

A Santa Paula man led authorities on an 80-mile car chase from Santa Clarita through Ventura County on Wednesday afternoon, throwing a bag of money and a shotgun out the window before running out of gas in Santa Barbara, law enforcement officials said.

The suspect was identified after his arrest as Craig Brashear, 18, said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Sgt. Bruce Sonnenblick.

The 1 1/2-hour pursuit started at Home Savings of America on Valencia Boulevard at 2:24 p.m. when a man walked into the bank brandishing a shotgun, then fled north on the Golden State Freeway with about $2,000, deputies said.

The fleeing suspect turned west onto California 126, with three sheriff’s patrol cars and a helicopter following him.

In Fillmore, the robber tossed a white bag of money and a shotgun onto the highway median from the moving car, authorities said.

“Maybe he figured that if he threw it out that we would just pick up the stuff and let him go, I don’t know,” Sheriff’s Lt. Robert Elson said. “That happens all the time. It’s hard to know what’s going through their heads when they’re being chased by the police.”

The California Highway Patrol took over as the suspect, who drove no faster than 70 m.p.h., headed north on the Ventura Freeway, Elson said. Witnesses said the driver turned off on California 217, but made a U-turn when he came to the gate at UC Santa Barbara, heading back south on U.S. 101.

The fleeing car finally stopped after it ran out of fuel on the State Street off-ramp of the Ventura Freeway just outside the Santa Barbara city limits, a CHP spokesman said. Brashear was taken into custody without incident.

No one was injured during the robbery or chase.

In another high-speed chase through the county early Wednesday, a burglary suspect led Santa Barbara sheriff’s deputies from Carpinteria to Long Beach, traveling through Ventura County but never leaving the freeway, authorities said.

The man and a companion were arrested in Long Beach, authorities said.

Times staff writer Alicia Di Rado and correspondent Patrick McCartney contributed to this story.