Cell-Phone Tip Begins Car, Foot Chase by Police

A man who led police on a car chase through residential streets and then on foot across the Ventura Freeway was arrested Thursday in a field near the Ventura Keys, authorities said.

Police say David Cucien Espinoza, 26, of Oxnard stole a pickup truck, evaded officers by leading them on a chase through several residential streets and resisted arrest after officers caught up to him.

The suspect was brought to officers’ attention about 2 p.m. by a man who called to report a reckless driver. According to the witness, a man driving a red Nissan truck ran a red light near Main Street and Telegraph Road.

“I called the police on my cellular phone and started following the guy,” said the witness, who would not give his name.

He gave police a partial identification of the license plate, and an officer recognized it as that of a vehicle stolen during a commercial burglary a few days earlier at Western Standard Forms on Market Street, said Ventura Police Cpl. David Wilson. That incident reportedly involved about $15,000 worth of stolen property, authorities said.

Police say they located the unoccupied truck parked near Katherine Drive and Main Street and staked it out for about an hour before the suspect got in and drove away.

Officers tried to pull the driver over, but he sped away, Wilson said. The suspect led police south to Channel Drive and then headed east, he added. That part of the chase ended in the 3100 block of Channel Drive when the suspect jumped out of the truck--as it was still moving--and ran south between two houses, authorities said.

“When he rolled out of the truck and started running toward me I thought he was going to run inside my house,” said a woman who requested anonymity. “I was just yelling at my grandmother to get inside the house.”

The truck rolled east on Channel for about 50 yards, jumped the curb on the north side of the street and smashed into a tree.

After scaling two walls, Espinoza ran across a field and, with officers in pursuit, across the Ventura Freeway, police said, adding that as he ran, he threw several items to the ground that were retrieved by police.

The suspect was taken into custody near Harbor Boulevard and Beachmont Street. He was driven back to the Channel Drive location at about 3:30 p.m. Espinoza had to be pulled out of the patrol car by four officers to be transferred to a second police car.

Residents and children just out of school gathered on the street and cheered the officers as they led Espinoza away. He was taken to Ventura County Medical Center and treated for minor injuries sustained during the foot pursuit, Wilson said.

After treatment, Espinoza, who authorities say had been out on bail in connection with a pending Municipal Court criminal case, was booked into Ventura County Jail. Bail was set at $10,000.