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- NATION, Page 29American NotesCALIFORNIALow-Speed Chase
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- Even by the laid-back standards of Southern California, it
- was a slow-motion arrest. Just outside Malibu last week,
- highway patrol officer Donna Urqidi noticed that a slow-moving
- 1978 Volkswagen was creating a traffic jam and ordered its
- driver to pull off the road. But as Urqidi left her car, the VW
- took off. With lights flashing and sirens screaming, Urqidi and
- two other patrol cars set off in less than hot pursuit of the
- escaping vehicle. And followed. And followed. And followed.
- Through the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside
- and San Diego counties. For four hours and more than 150 miles,
- tag teams of highway patrol cars and a Los Angeles police
- helicopter tailed the VW, which never exceeded the 55-m.p.h.
- speed limit, until driver Brett Barish finally ran out of gas
- near San Diego.
-
- Once they ran him down, police charged Barish, 29, with
- driving under the influence of alcohol, evading arrest, driving
- without a valid license and several other outstanding warrants.
- Throughout the marathon pursuit, police never attempted to run
- him off the road. Explained a spokesman: "That only works in
- the movies."
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