Dad takes kids on high speed pursuit through Salinas, Marina

A 24 year old man is behind bars, accused of a high speed chase with his children in the backseat early New Year’s Day.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office said deputies tried to pull over Joseph Aliotti on Harrison Road in Salinas because he didn’t have a front license plate on his car. When deputies turned around, Aliotti began speeding away, starting the chase. They also found out he was in violation of probation.

They said the 55-mile pursuit went through Marina and started to head back to Salinas when it finally ended after 40 minutes. Deputies tried to do a PIT maneuver on the car but it didn’t work. They also tried deploying a spike strip, but he allegedly drove around it. A second PIT maneuver finally disabled the car.

It was at that point deputies realized there were children in the car. The windows of the car were tinted, so they say they weren’t aware kids were present until the children’s mother told deputies a seven year old, five year old and infant were in the backseat.

Aliotti is facing felony violation of probation and felony evading. He could face more charges like child endangerment.