Deputies rescue woman and 6 year-old child from submerged vehicle after police chase

A man allegedly led law enforcement officers on a pursuit Monday that ended when his vehicle submerged into an irrigation canal with his 6 year-old son and a female adult trapped inside. Deputies rescued the two occupants and arrested the suspect who fled the scene.

On Monday, August 14th at around 3:35 pm, deputies from the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department’s Colorado River Station and officers with Needles Police stopped Rick Holt, 44 of Parker, in his vehicle near Rio Vista and Highway 62 in Big River.

Upon contact, Holt allegedly fled the scene in his vehicle and began driving recklessly, running three stop signs, in an attempt to elude deputies. The suspect led duputies on a pursuit through residential streets from Big River, then across the Colorado River into Arizona. The pursuit terminated after 20 miles when the suspect allegedly jumped from the vehicle, failing to put the vehicle in park and allowing the vehicle to roll into a farming irrigation canal with his 6-year-old son and a female adult trapped inside.

Deputies jumped into the irrigation canal, according to law enforcement, and were able to break out the back window in order to get the juvenile and adult female out of the vehicle before it submerged. The two were rescued. After Holt fled the scene, he was captured in the canal approximately one-quarter of a mile away from the scene.

Holt was arrested on felony charges of evading law enforcement, child endangerment, false imprisonment and felon in possession of a firearm, and on misdemeanor warrants for driving on a suspended license and possession of a controlled substance. He was transported to the Colorado River Station jail in Needles for booking. Holt remains in the custody of the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department with a combined bail amount of $177,000, awaiting a court hearing.