A Santa Clarita man is due at Los Angeles County Superior Court in Valencia next month on misdemeanor charges he violated a court order, after he was arrested on the side of Highway 14, with a woman who initially claimed she was being held against her will.
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Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies arrested Eric Landeen, 47, of Santa Clarita, after a series of unusual circumstances June 22.
A woman was reportedly being held against her will and managed to flag down an LAPD officer who was driving alongside the truck in which the alleged victim and Landeen were riding around 8:15 a.m., according to Sheriff’s Station reports and CHP officials.
The woman in the car with Landeen gave the officer the impression she was in danger, according to Sheriff’s Station officials, shortly after the arrest.
“She was fearful,” said Lt. Rob Hahnlein, citing the report. “She felt she was being held against her will.”
The LAPD officer pulled the vehicle over on the center median, and the suspect fled from his truck, running across the northbound lanes of the freeway and onto the shoulder.
At that point, an off-duty, uniformed military officer observed what was happening, pulled over, chased down the suspect and tackled him, securing him in a hold while the LAPD officer detained him and local law enforcement officials arrived on scene.
California Highway Patrol officers initially responded to the scene because of the location of the incident.
The severity of the alleged charges, as well as the fact that Landeen had an outstanding warrant out for his arrest at the time of the June 22 incident, prompted CHP to hand over the investigation to Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station officials, according to CHP officers.
Landeen was reportedly arrested on false imprisonment and burglary charges, in addition to a misdemeanor charge for violating a court order, according to Sheriff’s Station officials.
The case was turned over to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, which declined to file charges for false imprisonment and burglary, leaving the misdemeanor charge.
“We reviewed the evidence and filed the charges based on what was appropriate,” said Jane Robison, spokeswoman for the District Attorney’s Office.
His most recent arrest was May 2, according to Sheriff’s Department arrest records. On May 3, he pleaded no contest to misdemeanor disobeying a domestic relations court order and vandalism, and sentenced to 36 months of summary or unsupervised probation.
Landeen was due in court June 16 for a restitution hearing for a prior vandalism charge. He pleaded no contest, which the court essentially considers as a guilty plea (without the admission of civil liability), in May to vandalism and a domestic violence charge.
Landeen is currently being held at Pitchess Detention Center in lieu of $210,000 bail.
The Santa Clarita Valley Domestic Violence Center is located at 23780 Newhall Ave., Newhall. The phone number is 661-259-8175.