A woman who allegedly swiped a cab in Santee turned the afternoon into a drawn-out pursuit last Saturday, leading deputies on roughly 25 miles of stop-and-go driving before officers finally flattened the taxi’s tires on westbound I-8 in Mission Valley. Authorities say no other vehicles were hit during the roughly 40-minute chase, and the driver was taken into custody and treated for injuries.
Deputies first spotted the reported stolen taxi at about 4:12 PM near Mission Gorge Road and Big Rock Road, nearly three hours after it was reported taken from the area of Mesa Road and Mission Gorge Road. The chase pulled in multiple agencies: the San Diego County Sheriff's Office, the California Highway Patrol, the San Diego Police Department and the sheriff's ASTREA helicopter. CHP officers rolled out a spike strip on westbound I-8 in Mission Valley, stopping the cab at about 4:50 p.m., and an SDPD K-9 unit helped take the driver into custody. Those details were provided to City News Service and reported by Times of San Diego.
How officers stopped the cab
Officials said the taxi came close to clipping a guardrail at one point, but the pursuit mostly crawled along surface streets and freeway ramps through relatively light traffic. After the spike strip shredded the tires and the K-9 made contact with the driver, deputies moved in and secured the suspect without any further incident.
Where the suspect was headed
Lt. Joe Barry said the woman arrested was taken to a local hospital for treatment of injuries consistent with contact with a police dog. Barry added that the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility in Santee was notified. According to the San Diego County Sheriff's Office, Las Colinas is the county's primary intake center for women and is listed on the department’s website.
Why pursuits like this matter in East County
Chases that kick off in Santee and spill over city and county lines are not exactly unheard of. Deputies have previously followed possibly stolen cars from Santee onto both surface streets and freeways, with some cases ending in abandoned vehicles or nearby arrests, as reported by Patch. When drivers refuse to stop, law enforcement often turns to tire-deflation devices and K-9 teams to bring things to a close. Those tools are widely used but come with known safety risks, strict training needs and operational tradeoffs, as noted in coverage of tire-deflation devices.
“It was a well-managed pursuit called by ASTREA that came to a successful completion with no injuries,” Barry told Times of San Diego. Authorities said additional details on charges and booking were not yet available.
