RANCHO SANTA FE — A woman who allegedly fled from deputies over the weekend in a gated Rancho Santa Fe community, stole a couple’s car and struck one of the victims while trying to evade arrest was behind bars Tuesday and facing several possible criminal charges.
The events leading to the arrest of Laura Maria Partida, 41, began shortly before 7 p.m. Saturday when deputies responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in the 6500 block of Rancho Santa Fe Farms Drive, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies arrived to find Partida apparently talking to herself while sitting inside a car that was “parked oddly” across a driveway with its engine running, Lt. Colin Hebeler said.
After Partida ignored deputies’ attempts to speak with her, they placed a spike strip in front of the vehicle and parked a patrol cruiser behind it in an attempt to prevent her from driving away. Partida, however, allegedly maneuvered the car around the patrol vehicle and accelerated away, running over the spike strip in the process, Hebeler said.
The suspect then allegedly drove through the neighborhood at high speed before losing control of the car and crashing into a guardrail. She got out of the vehicle and fled on foot, according to sheriff’s officials.
Partida reached the 7300 block of Saint Andrews Road and entered an open residential garage, where she encountered a retirement-age couple preparing to leave for dinner. She then allegedly took their keys and got into their car, the lieutenant said.
“As Partida attempted to drive away in their vehicle, one of the residents was struck twice,” Hebeler said. “Sheriff’s deputies and private security officers quickly detained Partida before she could flee the property. The victim was transported to a hospital, where she was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.”
Investigators later determined that Partida had allegedly crashed a stolen vehicle on northbound Interstate 5 near Del Mar earlier that day.
“As a bystander attempted to assist her (at the site of the freeway crash), Partida took their vehicle, leaving them stranded on the shoulder,” Hebeler said.
Partida was booked into Las Colinas women’s jail in Santee on suspicion of assault, burglary, carjacking, auto theft, elder abuse, hit-and-run, driving while intoxicated and providing a false identity to a peace officer.
She was being held in lieu of $1.025 million bail pending arraignment Wednesday afternoon.
