A motorist who darted through the Santa Clarita Valley on the 5 Freeway, hitting speeds of 100 miles per hour, blowing past a spike strip laid down near Fort Tejon, was arrested this week near Buttonwillow. But not before he led officers on a foot chase, scaled a barbed wire fence and ultimately, was stopped by the bite of a police dog.
The California Highway Patrol Los Angeles Communications Center received a call from Los Angeles Police Department regarding the pursuit of a suspected DUI driver about 4:35 a.m. Tuesday.
CHP units from Los Angeles took over the pursuit northbound on I-5 in the Los Angeles area.
The pursuit reached speeds in excess of 100 mph as it continued north on I-5 into Kern County where Fort Tejon CHP units took over the pursuit, according to a news release issued by CHP Officer Adam Taylor of the Buttonwillow Station.
“We were told a green Honda (1996 Civic) was being pursued for DUI,” CHP Officer Eric Priessman told The Signal. “And, that the driver was eastbound on the (Highway) 118 to the northbound (Interstate) 5.”
Officers with the CHP’s Newhall Station took up the pursuit at Lyons Avenue, he said.
“The LAPD dropped out at Valencia Boulevard,” he added, noting the motorist did not stop.
“The regional (CHP) in Fort Tejon was notified and they put down a spike strip,” Priessman said. “It failed to slow down the suspect vehicle.”
Then, officers from the CHP Grapevine Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Facility successfully deployed a spike strip on the suspect vehicle near the base of the grapevine, Taylor said in his news release.
Buttonwillow CHP units took over the pursuit north of SR-166.
The pursued motorist continued to drive north until just south of SR-43, where he came to a stop in the northbound lanes at 5:51 a.m., Taylor said.
The driver immediately fled on foot and climbed over a barbed wire perimeter fence, he said.
A Kern County Sheriff’s K-9 Deputy, who had arrived at the “termination point of the pursuit,” released his specially trained police dog.
The K-9 dog immediately caught up to the suspect who surrendered and was then taken into custody without further incident.
A 32-year-old Chatsworth man was taken to Kern Medical Center where he was treated for the K-9 dog bite and then booked into the Kern County Jail on suspicion of DUI, evading, resisting arrest, driving on a suspended license and miscellaneous drug charges.
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