Michael Kheop, 44, was arrested by authorities in his apartment complex last Friday night about ten hours after he drove a stolen mini-van off a ravine behind Malibu City Hall. He faces possible felony charges.
By Knowles Adkisson / Associate Editor
A long muddy streak was still visible on the steep hill rising above Malibu City Hall this week, the result of a bizarre chase in which a man drove a stolen mini-van off Malibu Canyon Road last Friday. Michael Kheop, 44, allegedly drove the vehicle off the road at 1:45 p.m. Friday when he was pulled over by sheriff’s deputies after it was identified as stolen, then eluded a manhunt for 10 hours before he was arrested by deputies at his Malibu apartment complex.
Christy Rector, the receptionist at City Hall, said she was sitting at her desk labeling notices when she saw the van go over the edge.
“Somehow I just looked up and saw a blue van drive down the side, then I saw a sheriff standing looking at it afterwards,” Rector said. “I just watched him as the van kind of bounced its way down. I was waiting for it to flip over, and then it just disappeared.”
The chase began when a sheriff’s vehicle with an automated license plate recognition system (ALPR) identified a gray Chrysler Town & Country van driving in front of it on Malibu Canyon Road as stolen. The driver of the minivan, suspected to be Kheop, then pulled over onto the side of the road near Malibu Presbyterian Church, and deputies began to communicate with the driver and his passenger.
Lt. Josh Thai of the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station said the driver appeared to argue with a female passenger, who has been identified as Kheop’s wife, before starting the car again and rolling it off the side of the road and into a steep ravine. The female passenger was able to jump out of the car before it rolled over the edge.
“There was no chase, he pulled over, and that’s when he just kind of went crazy and drove off the road,” Thai said.
A car rental agency reported the minivan as a stolen vehicle to the Inglewood Police Department on April 13 after it was not returned, Thai said. The Malibu search and rescue team looked for the man until 9 p.m., including with helicopters. The search and rescue team is comprised of volunteers and reserve deputies who are trained in searches any time a vehicle goes over a cliff or a canyon.
At 10:40 p.m., deputies responded to a call at Kheop’s apartment on Pacific Coast Highway. A resident who had seen Kheop’s picture on the television news said he had seen Kheop at home.
Kheop was found and arrested in the community laundry room at the apartment complex, and taken into custody without incident. He was then taken to the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station on suspicion of taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent and attempted murder, according to a statement from the department. The county District Attorney’s office must still determine what Kheop will be charged with, however.
Malibu Canyon Road was closed from around 2 p.m. until it was reopened for traffic at 6:30 p.m. Malibu City Hall also reopened at 4 p.m. after originally locking down when the search began.