First the rain, then a car chase that ended with an officer-involved shooting: Last Saturday was not the time to be on the 101 Freeway.
A pursuit that began the morning of Jan. 12 in Camarillo with a domestic violence call came to a violent conclusion at around 12:30 p.m. on the southbound freeway just before the Las Virgenes Road exit in Calabasas with a crash and the shooting death of the vehicle’s driver.
The Los Angeles County coroner identified the man as Dimas Diaz Jr., 43, a resident of Santa Barbara. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Diaz was driving a stolen vehicle, officials said. He had a felony parole warrant for his arrest and was thought to be armed and dangerous.
Sgt. Eric Buschow of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office said the pursuit started after deputies responded to a domestic violence call in the city of Camarillo. The chase continued through Oxnard and onto the southbound freeway. CHP joined the pursuit at Borchard Road in Newbury Park.
Brenda Cohen of Agoura Hills was driving on the 101 with her mother and daughter to a family event. But they were forced to a halt around 11:30 a.m. when CHP shut down the freeway ahead of the Diaz vehicle, which had crashed into a guardrail underneath the Las Virgenes Road exit sign around 11:30 a.m.
Cohen stood at the front of the traffic jam with only law enforcement between herself and the wrecked car. With cellphones in hand, she and dozens of other motorists were given a front row seat to the events that were about to unfold. A 50-minute standoff ensued.
Diaz, who at first refused to exit his vehicle, got out of the car and stood behind it.
“I could mostly only see his face. Then suddenly there was a shootout. There was shooting and he was dead,” Cohen said. “We had to lower our seats. We were ducked down because we were in the front car. If there was a stray bullet it could have come our way.”
Both sides of the 101 were closed for nearly two hours before CHP decided to reopen the northbound lanes. As of Wednesday afternoon, authorities had no further information to release about what prompted the deputies to open fire. An investigation continues.