In an historic area of San Diego known to be a relaxing place to stroll museums, or drink and dine at fine restaurants, one Washington couple’s dream vacation quickly turned to a nightmare.
At around 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, a Washington man in his 50’s left his wife in their rental car to go into the ARCO station on the 3800 block of Old Town Avenue. When the man was inside, the suspect, who witnesses described as appearing to be a transient male, rushed the car and jumped into the front seat. The suspect then forced the woman out at knifepoint and sped away with the car and all of the couple’s belongings.
Officers were quick to respond, but the suspect had already left the area. Police put out an alert for the missing Nissan Versa and asked the public to help. Help came: in a town that relies heavily on tourism, the story spread fast and dozens of witness reports began to file in. Unfortunately, none of the reports led police to the suspect, and it appeared they had hit a dead end in the investigation.
It was not until 36 hours after the incident that police finally spotted the vehicle driving down the 2300 block of Otay Lakes Road. When they attempted to pull the suspect over, he refused and a pursuit ensued. As the chase escalated, police had no choice but deploy spike strips. The spikes disabled the suspect’s vehicle and he was taken into custody less than ten miles from the Mexican border.
More information on the suspect in custody was not available at press time.
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