CAMARILLO, Calif. Jan 28 2009 - A woman in a U-Haul moving truck led authorities on a high-speed chase through Southern California for more than two hours before running from the vehicle and getting tackled by an officer.
The chase began in the high desert city of Palmdale, wound through Los Angeles and then headed west along Pacific Coast Highway into Ventura County.
She drove on sidewalks, across grassy medians and into opposing traffic lanes. She drove recklessly and had to stop short for pedestrians in crosswalks.
Near the end of the chase, the truck began to weave and eventually stopped on a rural road in Camarillo.
The driver sprinted from the truck, yanked on the door of a stopped car and was tackled and arrested.
The chase began after the woman and a male companion were pulled over by a Los Angeles County sheriff's deputy near Palmdale after a report of suspicious activity.
The man was detained, but the woman jumped back into the truck and sped away, Royster said. The U-Haul was rented to the man.
Officers tried to stop her again on southbound State Route 14, but she fled south on Interstate 5 to Los Angeles and made loops through downtown before heading west on Interstate 10 and onto Pacific Coast Highway, said California Highway Patrol Officer Jose Nunez.
At one point near Port Hueneme in Ventura County, the driver drove into opposing traffic to avoid a spike strip that an officer put across the road.
At the end 25-year-old Alisha Nicole Mankin was arrested.
There were two active warrants for Mankin's arrest before the chase -- driving under the influence and a drug count, according to the CHP.
02-02-2009, 09:00 AM
