Duo leads Anderson police on high-speed pursuit along Highway 273
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ANDERSON // Just before 2:30 AM on November 18th, an Anderson PD officer noticed a white Lexus sedan driving in the Walmart parking lot… with a Toyota logo on the hood and “all Lexus badging removed from the rear of the vehicle.”
A records check on the license plate showed they actually belonged to a Dodge truck.
The officer then attempted a traffic stop, but the driver — later identified as 31-year-old Carla Denise Bledsoe of Redding — had other plans.
Bledsoe led the officer on a pursuit northbound on Highway 273, reaching speeds up to 80 MPH. Near Thomas Avenue, Bledsoe drifted into and began driving in the southbound lanes.
Eventually, the pursuit came to a stop near Whitehouse Drive when Bledsoe apparently ran out of gas.
She and her passenger, identified as 38-year-old Jericho Johnson of Redding, ignored officers’ commands to get out of the car and kept trying to start it back up. Eventually, the two were removed from the car with the assistance of K-9 Officer Aero.
Officers then searched the vehicle and discovered “a fake handgun, methamphetamine pipes, and marijuana.” The ignition also appeared to have been tampered with and the two had apparently started the car with a set of pliers.
Bledsoe turned out to have a no-bail warrant for her arrest out of Shasta County and Johnson had multiple felony warrants out of Siskiyou County. Bledsoe was arrested on said warrants as well as “evading a peace officer, evading a peace officer the wrong way on a highway, resisting arrest, false evidence of registration, and driving on a suspended driver’s license.” Johnson was arrested on his outstanding warrants.
Both have since been booked into police custody.
