Police: Man dies after poisoning self during freeway chase
VENTURA, Calif. — A man suspected of raping a 14-year-old he lured to a motel on social media was fleeing from police on a Southern California freeway Wednesday when he drank cyanide as he drove and killed himself, authorities said.
The slumped-over man’s car careened down U.S. 101 in Ventura before crashing.
Officers had been chasing Jonathan Hanks, 33, of Camarillo, for six miles when they saw him drink from a bottle. His car then drove onto the right shoulder of the freeway, drifted across all northbound lanes and then came to a stop after bumping the centre median, authorities said.
The drifting car had officers first thinking Hanks may have shot himself, but an on-scene test of the empty bottle led authorities to conclude he had consumed a mixture of salt and potassium cyanide.