Authorities have arrested a wanted suspect on the South Coast, but not before a wild police chase.
Thousand Oaks Police detectives were investigating 34-year-old Joshua Nation of Newbury Park, who was accused of several counts of felony identity theft and felony domestic violence. When officers tried to stop him Friday afternoon in Simi Valley at East Los Angeles Avenue and 5th Street, the suspect sped away.
Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies pursued the man, who failed to yield to overhead red and blue lights and sirens. Authorities say the suspect traveled on surface streets at more than 70 miles an hour and ran four red lights before he eventually collided with a cinder block wall on Barnes Street. Nation then ran away and hid in the backyard of a home.
A sheriff’s helicopter and two Simi Valley police canine handlers responded, and the man was eventually found. Nation was arrested and booked for felony evading, hit and run, identify theft and domestic violence.