Suspect in carjacking, wild chase is arrested

A Temecula man who eluded sheriff’s deputies last weekend following a carjacking has been arrested, officials said.

Joshua Alan Richie, 19, was arrested Monday in Temecula by Riverside County sheriff’s deputies. Richie allegedly led deputies on a high-speed chase Sunday evening, heading south on Interstate 215 in what was suspected to be a stolen car. Richie crashed between Newport and Scott roads in Menifee, then carjacked a 2005 Ford Focus with a female passenger inside, said Jerry Franchville, a sheriff’s investigator.

The passenger jumped out after the suspect slowed and exited the freeway. A deputy who stopped to help her fired several rounds at the suspect after he made a U-turn and drove directly toward them, Franchville said. Richie was booked on suspicion of kidnapping, kidnapping to commit robbery, carjacking, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of stolen property, officials said.