A felon with sacks of marijuana and a submachine gun in his truck led a sheriff’s deputy on a brief pursuit in the far southern reaches of San Diego County Thursday before crashing the vehicle and getting arrested, a sergeant said.
The lawman was working a border-security detail about 1:30 p.m. when he tried to stop 22-year-old Eric Oxenham at state Route 94 and Potrero Valley Road because the Ford Ranger the suspect was driving had a cracked windshield and lacked registration tabs, according to San Diego County Sheriff’s Sgt. Joseph Leos.
Oxenham allegedly failed to yield and sped off at high speed. The deputy gave chase for about a mile, until the fleeing driver lost control while trying to turn onto a side road, causing the pickup to crash into a fence post and roll over onto its passenger side, Leos said.
Oxenham, the sole occupant of the truck, climbed out of the driver’s-side window, unharmed, and was arrested without incident, he said. Authorities later determined that he was wanted on an outstanding federal warrant for human smuggling, the sergeant said.
Found inside the pickup were three gallon-sized bags of cannabis and a loaded Uzi, Leos said.
–City News Service
