Stolen car chase west of Tri-Cities ends in plunge down a steep hillside
A 32-year-old Prosser man took deputies off-roading early Thursday, before the stolen car slid off the road and down a steep hillside.
A Prosser car owner called police at 5:30 a.m. to report the theft of a Volvo from a Court Street home in Prosser, said the Benton County Sheriff’s Office said.
Later, a deputy noticed the Volvo heading east on Interstate 82.
When the driver, Bobby Ozuna of Prosser, took the Benton City exit, the deputy signaled for him to pull over.
He sped away instead. At the end of East Jacobs Road, the chase went off road and into some vineyards, continuing at 60 mph.
At one point, Ozuna backed into a patrol car, said the sheriff’s office.
The chase ended soon after Ozuna pulled onto a gravel irrigation canal road. That’s where he lost control of the Volvo and slid 150 feet down a steep slope.
Ozuna was booked into the Benton County jail on suspicion of stealing the car, trying to elude police and driving with a suspended license.