A parolee who allegedly commandeered a car in Vista Wednesday led officers on a multi-city chase that ended when he crashed the vehicle and was arrested.
Kenneth Wayne Ash, 30, allegedly confronted a motorist in the 600 block of Hacienda Drive at about 9 a.m. Wednesday and demanded that the victim get out of the vehicle, then got behind the wheel and drove off, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
After deputies issued a be-on-the-lookout alert about the crime to area law enforcement agencies, Carlsbad police personnel spotted the stolen vehicle traveling northbound on Interstate 5 at La Costa Avenue, and a pursuit ensued, sheriff’s Sgt. William Clem said.
The suspect soon exited the freeway and ran over a spike strip that deputies had laid in his path at Leucadia Boulevard and Garden View Road in Encinitas.
Though the device flattened at least one tire on the stolen car, Ash continued into Carlsbad, Clem said. There, at El Camino Real and Faraday Avenue, the suspect lost control of the vehicle and sent it crashing into two other cars, a bus stop and a tree.
At that point, Carlsbad police arrested Ash. Medics took him to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, where he was treated for injuries suffered in the crash before being booked into county jail on suspicion of carjacking, evading police, resisting arrest and violating terms of his parole.