LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Authorities said a vehicle pursuit that occurred early Thursday began after a local woman fled from deputies who approached her car at a local park.
Kathryn Dawn Delorenzi, 50, of Lakeport, was arrested early Thursday, according to Lt. Steve Brooks of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Delorenzi was taken into custody just before 2 a.m. after leading sheriff's deputies and California Highway Patrol officers on a nearly 40-minute vehicle chase that began at the Rodman Slough and ended at the intersection of Highway 20 and Highway 53 near Clearlake Oaks, as Lake County News has reported.
Brooks said deputies saw Delorenzi's silver Honda parked, with the windows fogged up, at the Rodman Slough County Park parking lot, where vehicles can't be parked after 11 p.m. unless the drivers are fishing.
He said Delorenzi sat up in the car when the deputies approached but refused to roll down the windows.
Radio traffic indicated deputies had approached Delorenzi at around 1:15 a.m., and after she refused to roll down the windows or get out of the car, a deputy said they had her at gunpoint.
Brooks said Delorenzi then started the car and took off on the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff toward Nice.
When she was passing through the Nice area, Delorenzi reached speeds of about 90 miles per hour, said Brooks. She also was swerving in and out of both lanes of traffic, as well as a turning lane in Nice.
The CHP, which joined the pursuit and closed the roadway to protect other drivers, put down a spike strip near Glenhaven, which flattened three of Delorenzi's tires, Brooks said.
However, Delorenzi continued driving on her melting and flattened tires, wheel rims and her remaining left rear tire, Brooks said.
The CHP then put down a second spike strip near Key Boulevard in Clearlake Oaks, as Lake County News has reported.
Brooks said Delorenzi slowed to about 5 to 10 miles per hour after hitting the second spike strike.
During the chase, deputies had asked if CHP officers would conduct a “pursuit intervention technique” or “PIT maneuver,” which involves bumping the vehicle to make it go into a spin, but the CHP declined, according to radio reports.
Brooks explained that such a maneuver could have put Delorenzi's vehicle into a “scary” spin, which could have been dangerous. Instead, she was allowed to continue driving at low speed until she stopped.
He said the pursuit ended near the “Y” intersection of Highway 29 and Highway 53.
Deputies – assisted by a Clearlake Police K9 – conducted a “high risk” stop, Brooks said, and took Delorenzi into custody at gunpoint, handcuffing her and placing her in a patrol car.
When a deputy asked Delorenzi why she had evaded law enforcement, she began reciting the Lord's Prayer and the Serenity Prayer, Brooks said.
While conducting a search of Delorenzi's Honda, authorities found a cat in a carrier under the front seat, according to Brooks.
Brooks said Delorenzi told deputies she needed medical help. Lake County Fire Protection District's Station 70 sent paramedics to the scene to evaluate her. She was not injured and was taken to the Lake County Jail.
Delorenzi was booked into the Lake County Jail on two misdemeanor county ordinance violations and a felony charge of evading a peace officer with disregard for safety, with bail set at $35,000. She remained in custody early Friday.
A search of jail booking records showed that Delorenzi was arrested by the Lakeport Police Department on Jan. 9.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said Delorenzi was arrested for misdemeanor disorderly conduct while under the influence of a drug and trespassing at the Employment Development Department at 55 First St.
He said Employment Development Department staff reported that Delorenzi had come into the office three times on Jan. 8 and 9, demanding money and that they give her a job. When they asked her to leave, she began making vulgar remarks.
When she came into the office on Jan. 9 she again was told to leave and staff attempted to block the door, then called police, Rasmussen said.
When a Lakeport Police officer arrived, he found Delorenzi in front of the building. Rasmussen said she was making statements that didn't make sense and behaving strangely, and wouldn't follow the officer's orders, leading to him taking her into custody.
Rasmussen said the Jan. 9 arrest was his agency's only contact with Delorenzi.
Her booking record for the vehicle pursuit arrest has her scheduled to appear in court on March 10.
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