LOS ANGELES (KABC) — A woman led law enforcement on a chase from Ventura County to the U.S.-Mexico border Monday afternoon and then crossed into Mexico, officials said.
The driver, identified as 29-year-old Alyssa Wilson of Simi Valley, allegedly stole a minivan from a sober living home in the 1900 block of East Hillcrest Drive in Thousand Oaks, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies spotted the minivan in Simi Valley and initiated a traffic stop, but the driver fled and entered the 118 Freeway and reached speeds of up to 90 mph, authorities said.
The chase was in the Sherman Oaks area around 11:15 a.m. and traversed all the way to San Diego County. When the driver got on the 405 Freeway, the California Highway Patrol took over the chase.
Officials said the driver was having a mental health crisis and took the minivan from her mother, who called CHP.
The driver remained mostly on the southbound 405 Freeway, passing through Orange County before eventually transitioning onto the southbound 5 Freeway into San Diego County. The driver then got on the south 805 Freeway and made it to the U.S.-Mexico border crossing by about 1:30 p.m.
CHP called off the chase after the driver crossed into Mexico just before 1:30 p.m.
Authorities attempted to deploy at least four spike strips during the chase, but they were not successful as the driver managed to swerve around them.
During one of those attempts, officers stopped traffic on the 5 Freeway in the Oceanside area and threw a spike strip in front of the van, but it did not deploy correctly.
In total, the woman drove about 155 miles and went from the San Fernando Valley to the border in a little more than two hours. She hit basically no traffic and never hit extreme high rates of speed.
It’s unclear if Mexican authorities will work with police in the U.S. to take the woman into custody.
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