Local man leads sheriffs on all-night boat chase

Deepa Bharath

NEWPORT BEACH -- A 39-year-old Costa Mesa man, reportedly intoxicated,

distraught and threatening suicide, led Harbor Patrol deputies through a

Friday morning high-speed boat chase and a five-hour standoff that

officials say is the longest ever seen.

Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol officers had to drive their boat

five miles and wait almost all night on the ocean in the dark before the

standoff could come to a safe end, officials said.

The chase reached speeds of up to 35 knots in a zone where the maximum

speed limit is 5 knots.

When it all ended, deputies arrested Philip Frazier on suspicion of

driving a boat under the influence and evading arrest. No one was hurt in

the incident and no weapons were used or found, Harbor Patrol officials

said.

The pursuit began around 1:30 a.m. Friday when two deputies on patrol

spotted Frazier driving his 24-foot Searay cabin cruiser without

navigation lights, said Harbor Master Capt. Marty Kasules.

“They tried to stop him as he was leaving the harbor,” he said. “But

[Frazier] just accelerated and took off at a high rate of speed.”

He said the chase began inside the harbor at N Street in the main

channel. In the next 20 minutes the deputies followed Frazier out of the

harbor up to the Balboa Pier and then 2 to 3 miles offshore, Kasules

said. Frazier stopped his boat south of the harbor in the ocean, he said.

Kasules said during the pursuit Frazier was talking to his mother who

lives in Washington threatening to “overdose” and “commit suicide.”

“When he hung up, his mother called the Coast Guard who contacted us,”

he said. “His mother had said he was distraught.”

Halfway through the chase, the two deputies were joined by four more

officers from Newport Beach and Dana Point. The officers had to trace

Frazier’s boat using a radar because the boat had no lights and was

virtually invisible as it crisscrossed the ocean in the dark.

Crisis negotiators were also called in to talk Frazier out of the

situation, Kasules said. They repeatedly addressed Frazier using a PA

system but he did not respond, he said.

“The deputies had to wait till first light,” said Kasules. “They saw

[Frazier] on the deck, possibly sleeping.” They were then able to

approach him and take him into custody without any incident, he said.

Frazier was taken to Hoag Hospital where he was determined to be under

the influence of drugs or alcohol or both, Kasules said. He was then

booked into Orange County Jail where he will undergo psychiatric

evaluation.

There are no known witnesses to the incident, Kasules said. Frazier’s

boat was docked in De Anza Bayside Village for the last three months, he

said.

“Fortunately it happened at that time. That area is quite heavily

populated during the daytime.”

He added that such incidents are rare in Newport Harbor.

“They have happened in the past,” Kasules said. “But very

infrequently. And this is definitely the longest standoff we’ve ever been

involved in.”