SIMI VALLEY : Motorist Injured in Chase Sues Police

A man whose car was struck by a carjacked vehicle being chased by police filed a lawsuit Thursday accusing Ventura County and Simi Valley law enforcement agencies of violating their rules regarding high-speed pursuits.

William Vasquez, 35, of Port Hueneme also is suing the estates of Eugene Nunez of Sylmar and Esteban Nunez of Camarillo, teen-age cousins who stole a rental car in Camarillo and drove it nearly 100 m.p.h. before crashing head-on into Vasquez’s car.

The lawsuit, filed in Ventura County Superior Court, contends that the law enforcement agencies caused the collision by allowing too many police cars to chase the Nunezes at too high a speed and too close a distance.

The carjacked vehicle, driven by Eugene Nunez, eventually crossed the center line on Madera Road and smashed into Vasquez’s car.

Vasquez suffered a broken chest bone in the collision, according to court documents. The Nunez cousins were declared dead at the scene.

Authorities at the time said the carjacking began at 3:35 p.m. at a McDonald’s restaurant in Camarillo when the Nunezes forced Paul Kastriades, 53, out of his rental car at knifepoint. Within five minutes, sheriff’s deputies spotted the vehicle going southbound on the Ventura Freeway and gave pursuit.

As the chase continued north on the Moorpark Freeway, Simi Valley police joined the pursuit and eventually three police cars were chasing the carjacked vehicle, the lawsuit contends.

Named with Vasquez as a plaintiff in the lawsuit is his wife, Terry, who was talking to him on his car phone when the collision occurred. She is seeking damages for negligent infliction of mental distress because she heard the crash.