Chase ends with crash into Jerry’s Market
2 occupants of the vehicle fled and were subsequently arrested
OROVILLE >> A business was damaged overnight when a car involved in a high-speed chase crashed into the building, leading to the arrest of two people.
The California Highway Patrol initiated a traffic stop with a white Honda Accord at 11:37 p.m. Wednesday night after the driver allegedly made an illegal Uturn at the intersection of Oro Dam Boulevard East and Feather River Boulevard, according to a CHP incident report.
The Honda Accord didn’t stop when the CHP officer turned on the patrol vehicle’s lights and siren, and a high-speed pursuit ensued, according to the report.
Traveling eastbound on Oro Dam Boulevard, the Honda failed to stop at consecutive red traffic lights while driving at a speed of approximately 85 miles per hour, according to a CHP incident report. After the vehicle went through the intersection of Olive Highway continuing eastbound, the CHP ended the pursuit.
However, a short time later, the officer found the Honda Accord at the intersection of Oro Dam Boulevard and Bridge Street, where the Honda crashed into Jerry’s Market, causing a fire in the building that the Oroville Fire Department
extinguished, according to a CHP incident report. No one was inside the store at the time of the crash.
Mike Mawas, co-owner of Jerry’s Market, said he was notified of the incident just before midnight. He said the Oroville Fire Department was on scene in five minutes but the store’s storage room was “completely destroyed” by the crash and ensuring fire.
The store was open for business as usual Thursday morning but smelled strongly of smoke.
“I’m still in shock, but the whole thing could have been much worse,” said Mawas.
Janese Prather, whose home is across the intersection from the market, said she did not hear the crash but when she went out for coffee at 4:30 a.m. she saw a crew on site cleaning up the debris. By the time she returned home at 5:30 a.m. the crew was gone and the side of storage room had been boarded up.
“It was a mess, and I still can’t figure out how that car got turned like that to crash into the store,” said Prather.
The CHP said all three occupants freed themselves from the vehicle, and two of them, Courtney Marie Hunter, 30, and David Wayne Killian, 60, ran away from the scene. Officers found both Hunter and Killian at Mitchell and Hamman avenues and arrested them.
Hunter, the driver, was arrested on suspicion of evading, driving under the influence of a controlled substance and resisting arrest. Killian was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest. Both were admitted to Oroville Hospital for injuries suffered in the crash.
The third occupant, who the CHP didn’t name, did not get arrested. Christina Safley drove by the scene and took videos of the aftermath, one of which showed an individual lying face down in the parking lot while an officer shined a flashlight in the subject’s direction. Smoke was also seen pouring out of the building.
One of the store’s owners, Mitch Dorghalli, is also the owner of the site where Village Market once stood in Berry Creek. The store was destroyed in the North Complex fires in September. Dorghalli’s daughter, Carin Dorghalli, is a former photojournalist and reporter at the Enterprise-Record.