A sheriff’s pursuit had a surprise ending when the driver stopped outside the Vista Jail and climbed a fence to get in.

Deputies obliged by closing a gate and arresting him.

Oceanside police started the pursuit shortly before 2 a.m. Tuesday when an officer tried to pull over the driver of a 1993 Nissan sedan for a minor traffic violation on Oceanside Boulevard, police said.

Instead of stopping for a ticket, the driver kept going, ending up in Vista where the pursuit was handed off to deputies on North Melrose Drive, authorities said. The Nissan driver meandered through the city for nearly 20 minutes before heading into the jail parking lot off Melrose, near Hacienda Drive.


He stopped, ran from the car and clambered over a fence into the jail intake area, where prisoners are driven in for booking, a sheriff’s official said.

The 35-year-old man was booked on several counts of resisting and obstructing police.