Ventura County – Simi Valley, long considered one of the nation’s safest communities from a crime rate standpoint—a distinction perhaps enjoyed by the area for the past twenty years as the home of a greater per-capita residential population of police, fire, and law enforcement professionals than any other area in the state—is probably a poor location choice to commit almost any crime, particularly those which occur on public thoroughfares.
As a resident of the Moorpark area, James Hagen, 30, might have given that demographic reality some thought before he decided to make a brazen attempt to avoid police contact just after the midnight hour of April 30th. Traffic late on a Tuesday night may have been light enough to tempt speeding on the area’s freeways, but when California Highway Patrol units and the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department received a dispatch reporting a motorcycle traveling at a high rate of speed northbound on the 405 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley, the chase was on.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Craig Smith, CHP units were soon in hot pursuit of a single motorcyclist as he turned onto the westbound 118 Simi Valley Freeway, “traveling at speeds ranging from 130 mph to 160 mph”. By that time, the suspect biker was being followed by a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter, and was observed as he “exited at Tierra Rejada Road going west into the City of Moorpark.” Shortly thereafter, the suspect was seen entering a gated community and entering a private residence therein.
As VCSD and CHP deputies approached the residence, Hagan—who initially “refused to respond to verbal requests to surrender”—was called by the cops on his cellphone and was presumably given the classic choice of “the easy way or the hard way”. No stranger to the efficacy of law enforcement as one who was arrested just five months ago on firearms and drug violations, Hagen soon gave himself up and was booked on charges of Felony Evading, with no bail set at this time.
Photo: Courtesy www.rotaryaction.com
Read more:
EdHat: Motorcycle chase arrest
Moorpark Patch: 2 Moorpark men arrested with pound of meth
