Test Drive of Automobile Turns Into Police Chase; Man Is Arrested

A man who walked into a Ventura auto showroom for a test drive Tuesday kidnaped a salesman and took him on a wild ride across Ventura County, which ended after the salesman escaped in the San Fernando Valley and the driver crashed the car at Universal Studios, authorities said.

Daryl Lynn Simpson, 32, was booked on suspicion of kidnaping and auto theft at the Van Nuys Jail after a brief police pursuit in the San Fernando Valley that ended about 1 p.m., Los Angeles Police Sgt. Nicholas Wade said.

The California Highway Patrol and law enforcement agencies in Ventura County said they were not involved in the chase.

The incident began at Paradise Chevrolet on Victoria Avenue in Ventura, with salesman Russell Phelps showing Simpson a $27,000 black Camaro Z-28, police said. Simpson got behind the wheel and Phelps got into the passenger seat for a test drive, according to police.

Phelps “wasn’t concerned until he realized that they were on the 101 Freeway heading out of Ventura County,” Wade said.

Simpson told Phelps that he was God and said he was driving to rock music radio station KLOS in Los Angeles to pick up money to pay for the car, Wade said.

Phelps told police that he unsuccessfully tried several times to persuade Simpson--who at one point during the drive ripped off his shirt--to turn around. Simpson responded, he said, by telling Phelps that he would not be beaten if he cooperated.

As they drove through Oxnard, Camarillo, Thousand Oaks and into the San Fernando Valley at about 80 m.p.h., Simpson realized that he didn’t know where the radio station was located, Phelps told police. When Simpson exited the freeway to make a phone call at Balboa and Ventura boulevards in Encino, Phelps bolted from the car and ducked into a nearby Smart & Final wholesale store, Wade said.

From there, Phelps called police and a description of the car was broadcast.

Los Angeles police spotted the car at Van Nuys Boulevard and Vose Street in Van Nuys and called for backup, Wade said. Two more patrol cars pulled up behind Simpson within minutes and gave chase.

Simpson led police onto the eastbound side of the Hollywood Freeway, where he reached speeds of up to 90 m.p.h. before exiting at Magnolia Boulevard, Wade said. Once off the freeway, he led police through side streets, including a dead-end street where he flattened two tires as he drove over a curb to elude police, Wade said.

Finally, Simpson crashed through a control gate at a multistory parking structure at Universal Studios, where he stopped the car and police took him into custody, Wade said.