Suspect leads police on wild pursuit

Residents at the Shadow Ridge Apartments in West Simi Valley got a scare Monday morning when police cars screeched through their complex with sirens blaring during a high-speed pursuit.

At around 9:20 a.m. on March 8, officers were preparing to serve several arrest warrants on Anthony Lubetich, 26, in the 2200 block of Electra Avenue when he came out of his apartment and fled in a silver Honda.

Lubetich, who at one point crashed the Honda into a pursing squad car, continued to evade the officers as he drove through the adjoining residential neighborhood and then out onto Los Angeles Avenue at Socrates Avenue, according to a police report.

He drove westbound on L.A. Avenue and made a left into Shadow Ridge at Ridgegate Lane and Tierra Rejada Road. Lubetich then abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot through the apartment complex and to the nearby Ace Your Storage Place, the report states.

Once at the facility, Lubetich stole a truck with its keys in the ignition and again led officers on a pursuit back through the apartment complex.

Upon reaching a dead-end alley, he jumped out of the truck and again fled on foot, with officers on his heels.

He hopped a fence into the adjacent residential area south of the apartments. Officers closed in on him at the front door of a home in the 1600 block of N. Cayton Avenue and, when confronted with Taser stun guns, Lubetich submitted to arrest.

The Honda in which Lubetich initially fled was stolen that day from a 24-year-old male student at Cal State Northridge. Lubetich had swapped the plates on that vehicle with those from another stolen vehicle, police said. Additional license plates were found in the car along with keys that were altered to be used in auto thefts.

The stolen truck used in the chase belongs to a 41-year-old Simi Valley man.

The police officers had come to the apartment complex to serve Lubetich arrest warrants on allegations of felony assault with great bodily injury, driving under the influence and excessive blood alcohol and refusal to take chemical testing.

Lubetich was booked at Ventura Main Jail on additional charges of reckless driving while evading a police officer, hit and run, two counts of auto theft, possession of any tool with the intent to break into a building or vehicle, and receiving stolen property.