Police tactic ends high-speed pursuit
by Lenny Roberts

A 21-year-old Oak View woman with a reported criminal history in Antioch, Calif. was arrested on several charges Monday afternoon after she allegedly tried to escape pursuing sheriff's deputies.
Heather Arriola was taken into custody at gunpoint after the pursuit, which reached high speeds on Creek Road, Highway 33 and the Ojai Freeway when Deputy Joe Preciado "t-boned" her 1988 Toyota near the Casitas Vista Road off-ramp to stop her from heading back on to the rush-hour traffic on the northbound lanes of the Ojai Freeway.
The pursuit began at 4:35 p.m. when deputies patrolling the Casitas Springs area said they saw Arriola's car traveling northbound on North Ventura Avenue at Nye Road in the middle of the two-lane highway, forcing vehicles in both directions off the road. As they turned around to investigate, Arriola reportedly sped up - still in the center of the highway - and reached speeds of 70 mph. Because of the amount of late-afternoon traffic, and the perceived danger to the public, the pursuit was terminated near Orchard Drive in Mira Monte.
Preciado, who had parked near Villanova Road and Ojai Avenue to stop traffic in both lanes, learned that the blue Toyota hatchback was nearing the city limits. He and Deputy Damien Schmidt observed the suspect vehicle, again in the middle of the road, and followed it as it turned onto Hermosa Road.
According to Preciado, the suspect then turned southbound onto Creek Road, still driving recklessly. At about one-half mile south of Hermosa Road, Preciado and Schmidt witnessed Arriola's Toyota leave the road, where a 157-foot-long skid mark was later measured, and collided with a hillside.
At gunpoint, Arriola refused to leave her vehicle.
"We yelled 'Stop,'" Preciado stated, "but she took off and reached speeds of 70 mph on Creek Road, and we re-initiated the pursuit because there was very little traffic."
As they continued southbound, knowing that her only choices were to stop, which seemed unlikely, or get back onto Highway 33 near the Arnaz Grade, Highway 33 in the Casitas Springs area was closed to traffic. By then, a sheriff's helicopter was observing the situation from the air, and radio broadcasts were alerting ground deputies of traffic ahead of the pursuit.
According to the report, the suspect vehicle easily re-entered Highway 33 and raced through Casitas Springs. Just after the Casitas Vista on-ramp to the southbound Ojai Freeway, Preciado said that Arriola slowed down and turned onto the dirt center divider in an attempt to turn back toward Casitas Springs. Because he knew that California Highway Patrol officers were slowing down northbound traffic south of his location, he made the decision to cut her off by ramming her car with his patrol unit as she re-entered the northbound lanes- a maneuver that brought the pursuit to an abrupt halt.
As converging patrol deputies arrived, the suspect was not only unable to get out of the driver's-side door, but was unwilling to leave through the passenger door. Preciado broke the passenger-side window and he and other deputies removed the suspect from her disabled car.
Arriola was arrested on suspicion of felony evading, driving under the influence of drugs, and possession of drug-related paraphernalia, reportedly a broken crack pipe and a syringe.
She was booked into Ventura County Jail later that evening after being taken to the Ojai Sheriff's Substation for questioning.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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