By Adam Foxman
Ventura County Star
VENTURA, Calif. — A suspected auto thief with a long criminal history was hit and killed Monday on Highway 101 in Ventura while running away from police, authorities said.
Derek Harrison, 29, of Ventura was hit by a motor home about 11:30 a.m. on a southbound lane of the freeway near Main Street, authorities said. Police closed two lanes of the freeway after the fatality, which occurred on a bridge over a curved section of Arundell Avenue.
Harrison was pronounced dead at the scene, officials said.
Harrison had 13 criminal convictions in Ventura County since 2000, and a warrant had been issued for his arrest in connection with the most recent case, a 2010 conviction for felony possession of a deadly weapon, Superior Court records show.
The incident began about 11:24 a.m. Monday, when a sport utility vehicle was reported stolen from Union Engineering Co. at 1399 Arundell Ave., Ventura police spokesman Sgt. Jack Richards said.
Carly Ford, secretarytreasurer at the business, said the GMC Yukon she drove to and from work was stolen from an area near her office.
Natalia Brown, a secretary at Union Engineering, said she was pulling into the parking lot when she saw the Yukon pulling out. She saw a man in it, and he looked at her like she wasn’t even there, then continued driving, she said.
‘He looked pretty out of it,’ Brown said. ‘He looked like he did not even care.’ Brown headed quickly into the office to tell Ford. ‘I said, ‘Where’s your car going?’ She said, ‘What are you talking about?’ ... I said, ‘Someone is driving away in your car.’ She just looked at me like, ‘What?’ ' Brown said.
Ford called 911 to report the theft. An officer spotted the suspect just blocks away, heading toward a freeway underpass where Arundell curves sharply, Richards said.
‘He sees the marked black-and-white unit and just takes off,’ Richards said.
The officer made a Uturn and saw that the stolen vehicle was disabled by a crash with a pickup truck, Richards said. The stolen vehicle’s driver apparently lost control, went into oncoming traffic andhit the pickup. The stolenvehiclecame to rest on the side of Arundell.
After the crash, Harrison got out of the SUV, ranacrossnearby railroad tracks onto a dirt road that parallels the freeway, then jumped a fence and ran up an embankment onto the freeway, Richards said.
Authorities said Harrison was struck and killed by a motor home when he ran into the slow lane of southbound 101.
The driver, Peter Swords, 52, of Nevada, was on hisway to Las Vegas after a vacationwhen he saw the man stop on the shoulder, look back, then runonto the freeway, said Officer Steve Reid, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol’s Ventura office.
Swords braked but could not avoid hitting Harrison, Reid said. Harrison was dragged about 150 feet, Richards said.
Police began CPR, and paramedics continued trying to resuscitate Harrison, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
“This is a sad and tragic event for everyone involved,” Richards said.
In addition to last year’s case, Harrison had a felony conviction for carrying a loaded firearm in 2002, court records show. All the other convictions were misdemeanors. They included multiple charges of being under the influence of drugs, resisting an officer and weapons violations, court records show.
Copyright 2011 Ventura County Star