Encinitas Gang Wars

Hot gang action in little ol' Leucadia:

Deputies chased a pickup truck-load of gang members Saturday from a stabbing and baseball-bat beating in Encinitas, and eight people in the pickup were injured when it crashed in Carmel Valley.

Deputies went just before 1 a.m. to the 800 block of Clark Avenue in Encinitas, where a man was being beaten with a baseball bat, San Diego County sheriff's Sgt. Darrell Strohl said. When they arrived, they spotted a truck matching the suspects' vehicle leaving the area.

He said deputies tried to pull the vehicle over, but the driver took off southbound on Interstate 5. After driving south through Del Mar, the driver exited the freeway and then crashed into a tree and a cement patio wall of a townhouse in the 2100 block of Carmel Valley Road.

Six adults and two juveniles were hospitalized, two with serious injuries, according to the sergeant.

San Diego police Officer David Stafford said the two were thrown from the back of the truck, and one suffered serious head injuries.

Strohl said six suspects were treated and arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. One of the adults resisted arrested and was bitten by a police dog, Strohl said.

He said the 18-year old victim they had assaulted suffered stab wounds in addition to the baseball bat injuries, but he is expected to survive.

The victim is allegedly a gang member living in Encinitas courtesy of Habitat for Humanity.