MOORPARK : Deputy Crashes Car Responding to Call

A sheriff’s deputy lost control of his patrol car Tuesday en route to a robbery in Moorpark and plowed through a chain-link fence, officials said.

Deputy Charles McDonald, 27, was westbound on Old Los Angeles Avenue near Spring Street when he swerved to avoid a cement truck, fishtailed, then rammed through a fence on the opposite side of the road, officials said.

McDonald’s car, which received moderate damage, stopped beside an irrigation supply store. McDonald was treated and released for minor neck and back pain at Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks.

McDonald was responding to a call from a local supply store. At 9:30 a.m. a six-foot-tall man in his mid-20s robbed an unspecified amount of cash from an employee at Prudential Supply Co. on Gabbert Road in Moorpark, officials said. He entered through the back door with a towel over his mouth and demanded cash. He did not display a weapon, officials said. There were no injuries.

Witnesses said he may have fled in a white Ford Escort, but police could not locate the car or the suspect.