A 40-year-old Los Angeles man was arrested Wednesday after a series of wild events that began in Yosemite National Park in a suspected stolen car and ended with a crash in a second stolen vehicle about 20 miles south of the national park.
The California Highway Patrol in Oakhurst said Thursday that it was alerted at 2:41 a.m. Wednesday to look for a Kia Soul after it was pursued by park rangers in the national park. The driver allegedly drove recklessly in the park and threw beer cans out the window, among other things, the CHP said.
Shortly thereafter, officers received a report that a Kia had crashed in Fish Camp on White Chief Mountain Road near Tenaya Lodge, about three miles south of the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park on Highway 41, and that the man had fled on a bicycle.
The man is said to have then stolen a Kia Optima at Tenaya Lodge and fled again on Highway 41 about 15 miles south to the mountain community of Oakhurst. There, a Tesla sedan came across the Optima, which was driving slowly on the right shoulder of the highway.
As the Tesla passed the Kia, the Kia driver accelerated and began intentionally crashing into the rear of the Tesla, CHP said.
The driver of the Tesla attempted to escape the Kia, but the Kia driver continued to intentionally drive into the back of the Tesla as it drove through the city. Cameras on the Tesla captured the wild scene, CHP said.
A deputy with the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office was alerted to the situation and intercepted the Kia and Tesla on Highway 41 south of Highway 49 near Victoria Lane as the Kia was still intentionally driving into the Tesla.
The deputy turned on his lights and siren and began a chase before the driver of the Kia eventually crashed into a fence near Maddie Fhy Road and was arrested.
He was booked into the Mariposa County Jail on numerous charges, CHP said.
In another incident in July, a man from La Habra in Southern California was killed in a crash on Highway 41 after fleeing Yosemite following a reckless driving incident. Four passengers in two other vehicles were also injured in the head-on collision near the Highway 222 turnoff to Bass Lake.
