2 Oxnard Men Arrested After Crash Ends Chase

Ventura police officers Saturday arrested two Oxnard men on suspicion of theft and evading arrest after a chase that ended with the vehicle they were driving slamming into a wall, authorities said.

The men, Jose Tonio Velasquez, 36, and Jeffrey Lee Pinckney, 26, were first seen by an off-duty Ventura police officer in the parking lot of the Mann Theaters on Eastman Avenue about 1:30 p.m., police said.

According to police, the men were acting suspiciously, looking into a number of vehicles before driving away.

After a license plate check indicated the vehicle was stolen, Ventura and Oxnard police officers tried to stop the men as they were getting onto the southbound Ventura Freeway at Telephone Road, police said.

But the pair refused to stop, police said. After leaving the freeway at Vineyard Avenue, the men drove more than 60 mph in the residential area, police said.

The short chase ended when the two jumped out of the moving vehicle, letting it slam into a wall in the 2200 block of Jardin Drive in Oxnard, police said. The pair tried to flee on foot but were caught and arrested, police said.

Police said they found tools used to commit burglaries as well as items believed to be stolen in local robberies in the car.

Both men were booked on suspicion of possessing a stolen vehicle and evading arrest.