Ventura – In the middle of the warm summer afternoon of August 1st, a Ventura Police officer on routine patrol observed Stephen Reid, a 53 year-old resident of the city, as he cruised through an area intersection astride his motorcycle in the commission of a motor vehicle code infraction.
With some familiarity of Reid and the knowledge that he was on active parole, the officer initiated a routine traffic stop, pursuant to the enforcement of the infraction he’d just witnessed, when suddenly Reid cranked the throttle on his motorcycle…and the chase was on.
According to the VPD release to the media, “Reid traversed through a residential area for approximately one additional mile” before he left the paved roadways of the city and high-tailed it across an open field, making it impossible for the four-wheeled VPD black-and-white to follow in his tracks.
But with only the kind of “deus ex machina” good fortune seen on TV shows, high above the open field where Reid was doing a great job of leaving the cops literally “in the dust”, there just happened to be a VPD officer undergoing firearms training at the Ventura Police Range “located on the hillside above where Reid was fleeing,” as described in the department’s report. That officer-trainee observed Reid’s escape route and transmitted that information directly to the offers in pursuit.
Given the play-by-play of Reid’s flight path, officers responded by trailing Reid and finding him now running on foot some distance from where he had abandoned his motorcycle.
Reid was taken into custody at that point and transported to Ventura County Jail where he was booked on a no bail hold pursuant to charges of evading a police officer, possession of a controlled substance for sale, transportation of a controlled substance, and parole violation.
Photo: Courtesy Ventura Police Department
Read more:
EdHat: Pursuit arrest
Beforeitsnews: Ventura police nab parole violator
Citizens Journal: Ventura Police arrest parole violator after pursuit
