Teens Attack Ex-Teacher, Steal Her Car

OXNARD — A 76-year-old retired high school teacher was slightly injured Tuesday morning when two girls squirted her in the face with pepper spray at a downtown supermarket and stole her car for a joy ride, police said.

Gertrude Cash, who once taught biology at Santa Clara High School, was treated for pepper spray in her eyes at St. John’s Regional Medical Center and released, a hospital spokeswoman said.

Cash was walking to her car in the Von’s parking lot at Gonzales Road and G Street about 11 a.m. when the two 15-year-old girls approached her, said David Keith, an Oxnard Police Department spokesman.

One of the girls pulled a knife and demanded Cash’s car keys, Keith said.

When Cash did not respond quickly enough, the other girl squirted her with pepper spray, and the girls grabbed the keys, he said.

The girls hopped into the car and sped off, police said. The two drove north on the Ventura Freeway, before exiting in Ventura at Telephone Road, said Ventura Police Sgt. Tom Taylor at the scene of the arrest.

“When they got off the freeway they got into an accident,” Taylor said.

The girls had swerved in front of another car and hit it, but kept driving, he said. The other driver chased them, eventually forcing them to stop on Callens Road between Market and Main streets.

“He got out of his car and we could see he was really mad,” said Ed Young, 34, who works at California Electric Supply across from where the cars stopped.

“He was yelling at them saying ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ ” Young said. “They just got out of the car, opened the back doors, got their stuff and started walking off real casual like they were saying, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ ”

Young went after the girls, who started running down an alley.

“They knew I was going after them, so I just went and got my friend who’s a reserve deputy,” Young said.

Young ran into the office of Tom Finnerty, who works at a lighting company and is a reserve Ventura County sheriff’s deputy.

Finnerty ran after the girls, catching up with them several blocks away at a strip mall on Telephone Road.

The two girls, dressed in flared baggy blue jeans and tank tops, flagged down a passing motorist.

“They asked her to help them, that I was trying to hurt them,” Finnerty said. “But when I identified myself as a deputy the woman just said, ‘Get outta my car.’ ”

Shortly after, a dozen officers, from the Ventura Police Department, the California Highway Patrol and the Oxnard Police Department, arrived at the scene.

The two were arrested and booked into the Ventura County Juvenile Hall on suspicion of carjacking, police said. Officials said they may also be charged with assault.

The girls told investigators they took the car to go on a joy ride, police said.