Father of four runs down fleeing DUI suspect
By Nancy Needham nancy@theacorn.com

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers DENIES HE'S A HERO-- When a suspected drunk driver came down a quiet residential street in T.O. and plowed into Dale Saiger's car, a basketball hoop and a neighbor's car, Saiger ran outside and tried to help the man out of his smashed vehicle. After Saiger suggested calling the police, however, the man tried to flee. Saiger chased the man down and held him until authorities arrived. "I'm not a hero," Saiger says, "I just did what I had to do." Ironically, just a few months earlier, Saiger tried unsuccessfully to persuade neighbors to petition the city for speed bumps.

Sounds of crashing metal and shattering glass triggered an untapped superhero instinct inside Thousand Oaks resident Dale Saiger.

Saiger, 47, had returned home from work Feb. 13 and was expecting a quiet evening at home with his wife, Cindy, and their four children, ages 8, 11, 14 and 16. At about 7 p.m. as the family was working together on a jigsaw puzzle in their living room, they heard a great commotion outside, Saiger said.

With a puzzle piece still in hand, Saiger went outside and saw a guy playing bumper cars all by himself as he was going down the 1400 block of Norman Avenue.

"He hit one car, hit our basketball hoop, it fell over and hit my truck, then the car went up onto the grass, over the curb, hit my neighbor's Suburban parked in his driveway and stopped," Saiger said.

The driver was in a 1998 Pontiac Grand Am. According to the police report, the first car he hit was Saiger's 1992 Plymouth Acclaim parked on the street. The insurance company considers the car totaled, Saiger said.

The other car, parked in a neighbor's driveway, was a 1997 Chevy Suburban.

When the driver got out of the Grand Am, he left the engine running, Saiger said.

"I ran over to him and asked him if he was okay," Saiger said. "Both of his airbags had gone off and his windshield was broken."

"He told me, 'I'm okay. I'm sorry,'" Saiger said.

Then Saiger asked Cindy to call the police.

"He asked me not to call the police. He said he would pay for everything, but I thought we should call the police," Saiger said.

The driver then ran from the scene, Saiger recalled.

"I thought I'd better run after him and began chasing him down the street," Saiger said. "I thought he might be in shock."

As the chase ensued, Saiger said, he was trying to talk the driver out of leaving the scene by assuring him he was going to catch him and stop him, and by reminding him how important it was not to run from the police.

Once he caught up to the driver and restrained him, another neighbor was there to help. The driver pleaded with them to let him go, Saiger said.

"I had compassion for him, but we realized one of our kids could've been under his car," he said.

According to Ventura County Sheriff's Department spokesman Capt. Ron Nelson, David Ancona, 19, was arrested and booked on misdemeanor charges of being unlicensed, driving under the influence and hit-and-run. He was released from jail after signing a written promise to appear. His arraignment is scheduled for March 13.

"It's unusual for citizens to get involved and chase down and restrain a suspect," Nelson said.

Still, at about the same time, at 6:40 p.m. on Feb. 13, a similar incident occurred in Camarillo. A hit-and-run suspect allegedly tried to flee the scene, and a group of citizens who witnessed the accident chased him down and restrained him until the police arrived.

According to a police report, unlicensed driver Homero Rodriquez, 27, was allegedly involved in the accident at Temple Avenue and Ponderosa Drive. When he tried to drive away, he was followed by a U.S. postal worker and two other witnesses. He gave up, stopped and the police arrested him, Nelson said.