A 17-year-old Santa Paula boy and a companion were arrested on suspicion of attempted armed robbery early Monday after they led Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputies on a pursuit.
The chase ended when the suspects crashed their vehicle in Fillmore, trapping the area juvenile who had to be extricated.
According to a Ventura County Sheriff’s statement, the incident started Monday, March 28 shortly after 2 a.m. when two juveniles approached two people sitting in a vehicle outside a residence in the 400 block of Simon Way in El Rio. The teens allegedly brandished a knife at the vehicle occupants and demanded money, but left the scene in a white Hyundai without obtaining any cash.
About 30 minutes later at approximately 2:30 a.m., City of Fillmore VCSD Patrol Deputies located the suspects in their white Hyundai. The vehicle was traveling westbound through Fillmore on city streets at approximately 55 mph, and although deputies attempted to stop the vehicle the driver refused to stop the car.
A short pursuit ensued through the city until the fleeing suspect vehicle, still traveling at approximately 55 mph, crashed into a street sign at Burlington and Reading streets in Fillmore.
The male driver of the vehicle - a 16-year-old Oxnard boy - escaped on foot, but was tracked and apprehended by a VCSD Sheriff’s K-9. The other juvenile, a resident of Santa Paula who was a passenger, was trapped in the car due to the collision, but was extricated and treated by Fillmore Fire Department EMTs at the scene.
Both juveniles were booked on suspicion of felony attempted robbery charges and taken to the Juvenile Justice Center in El Rio, where they were lodged.
