Ventura County – Thomas Meza, 31, Christopher Rodriguez, 25, and Ashley Moraga, 20 were each arrested on the morning of August 4th following a wild and erratic police pursuit in the city of Thousand Oaks that began with a traffic stop attempt by a Thousand Oaks Police Department Motor Officer.
When the motorcycle cop spotted a Dodge pickup truck weaving across Thousand Oaks Boulevard lanes of traffic and he hit his red lights and siren, the truck took off in a brief and poorly-executed attempt to elude the long arm of the law. A brief pursuit ended abruptly when the truck, according to TOPD spokesman Sgt. B. Payton, smashed into a fence and tree, then veered into oncoming traffic at which point “the driver fled the moving vehicle.”
With the amateur stuntman driver taking off on foot and two of his passengers still along for the ride, the pickup truck stopped in the center median of the busy thoroughfare, just short of entering east bound lanes of oncoming traffic. Both passengers were immediately taken into custody at that time, but the driver eluded immediate capture.
Shortly thereafter, a Ventura County Sheriff’s K9 Unit arrived on the scene, accompanied by helicopter Air Unit in the skies above and CHP units supporting a ground search. “Approximately thirty minutes later,” Payton reported, the driver of the truck was identified as Thomas Meza while deputies responded to citizen calls of a man running through local neighborhoods. Meza was ultimately dogged down and taken into custody on private property.
Following the receipt of medical attention for minor injuries, Meza, Rodriguez, and Moraga were all booked into Ventura County Jail on multiple charges including felony evading, hit and run, possession of stolen property, being under the influence of drugs, and upon unspecified outstanding warrants, with no bail indicated at this time.
Read more:
CitizensJournal: Thousand Oaks police arrest trio
VCStar: Three arrested after Thousand Oaks pursuit
EdHat: Vehicle pursuit arrest
