Pursuit ends when driver jumps out of vehicle before Hallock crash
March 23, 2016
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Ventura Police are asking the public’s help in finding a man wanted on two warrants that led law enforcement on a wild chase March 14 before crashing a stolen pickup truck at the south end of Hallock Drive.
According to Ventura Police, the incident began on a normally quiet Monday night shortly after 10 p.m. in the area of Perkin Avenue and Olivas Park Drive near Victoria Avenue.
A VPD Officer attempted to pull over a white Ford 150 pickup truck for a traffic violation but the driver failed to yield, causing a pursuit through city streets as the driver fled.
Eventually, the suspect, who ran several red lights and traveled at speeds up to 90 mph on surface streets, entered Highway 126 at Kimball Road heading east and other agencies were called to enter the chase.
At the extreme east end of Santa Paula the driver of the pickup suddenly swerved to the right turning onto South Hallock Drive.
Perhaps unfamiliar with the area the driver continued on the dead end street where the pickup truck crashed through a metal fence and finally stopped on the Santa Clara River bed.
According to Ventura Police, the suspect had exited the moving pickup truck before the collision and ran into the riverbed.
Ventura and Santa Paula Police, Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputies and the CHP conducted a search of the area using at least two K-9s and a VCSO helicopter unit was also dispatched for a search of the riverbed.
Although there were several reports the suspect could be heard moving through the heavy brush in the riverbed he was not located.
Ventura Police later identified 24-year-old Nicholas Dergan as the suspect; Dergan’s Facebook page cites his residence as Oxnard.
No one was injured during the pursuit.
Police say Dergan is wanted on two felony warrants as well as felony evading charges related to the pursuit.
Anyone with information on Dergan’s whereabouts is asked to call VPD at (805) 650-8010.
