Stolen car owner Katherine Crossland gets her vehicle back after Eureka, Arcata police take suspected thief into custody. Photo: Andrew Goff.

A man driving a yellow Nissan Xterra eluded police in two cities for about half an hour this afternoon, racing from an Arcata traffic stop at speeds of up to 80 miles per hour before coming to ground at a home on a Eureka side street near St. Joseph Hospital.

At that point, according to police on the scene, 26-year-old Eureka resident Jerrad Lafayette was taken into custody on charges of having evaded police and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Arcata Police first attempted to stop the vehicle at about 1:10 p.m., according to police communications at the time. Lafayette refused to pull over, heading instead down Samoa Boulevard toward Eureka. He went through Manila, over the Samoa Bridge and through Old Town before ending up on S Street, toward Harrison. At several points during the pursuit, police pursuers broke off the chase due to unsafe speeds, only to pick up the subjects tracks again.

According to Sgt. Travis Braud of the Eureka Police Department, the suspect ended up on a dead-end street — Hill Alley, parallel to Harrison — before he realized his error. He attempted to turn around, but by that time the police had boxed him in.

Shortly after police took Lafayette into custody, Eureka resident Katherine Crossland showed up to recover her stolen Xterra. Crossland — who runs Camp Cooper, a city youth camp — said that the vehicle had been stolen “right out of her driveway” last night, and noted that the thief or thieves had banged up the front end of her car pretty good. She had bought the Xterra in February.

Braud said that the vehicle’s license plates appear to have been stolen off a different Xterra.

According to the Outpost’s Andrew Goff, who was at the scene, a police officer came over to Crossland with a message as things were winding down. The officer was delivering a message from Lafayette. “He is really sorry,” the officer told Crossland.

“Are you kidding?” Crossland exclaimed. “Fuck that piece of shit!” And she flipped him off as they drove away.

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