PALO ALTO — A 26-year-old man was arrested Thursday afternoon in Palo Alto on suspicion of spitting in the face of one bus driver and wrapping his arms around another before running from officers and trying to carjack a woman, police said.
Officers were called to Quarry and Arboretum roads just before 5 p.m. for a report of a disturbance on a SamTrans bus, the Palo Alto Police Department said in a statement. They arrived to see a man running into a retirement community at 620 Sand Hill Road.
An officer detained the man, who appeared to be under the influence of drugs and handed over a pipe, while others interviewed the drivers at the first scene, police said.
One of the drivers, a woman in her 30s, told officers the man had forced open the doors of her out-of-service bus. She ordered him to leave multiple times before he did. The woman then got off the bus to flag down another SamTrans driver for help.
“The suspect then spat in the face of the female driver,” police said, “and when the male driver went to her aid, the suspect lunged at him and wrapped his arms around him.”
The driver shoved him away, and the man ran from the scene while the drivers called police.
Back at the retirement community, the man ran from officers when they went to handcuff him, police said.
Officers chased the man, who at one point opened the passenger side door of a blue 2011 BMW sedan occupied by a woman in her 50s who had stopped at Sand Hill Road and Vineyard Lane, police said. The man reportedly grabbed the steering wheel but then got out of the car and continued running.
The pursuit ended in a parking lot at the Stanford Shopping Center, where officers took the man into custody after a “brief physical struggle.” No injuries were reported during the chase or arrest, but paramedics were summoned when the man’s breathing appeared to be labored. He was cleared by the Palo Alto Fire Department.
At the police station, the man refused to provide his real name and told officers he had heart problems, police said. The man was taken to a hospital for an evaluation and cleared a second time.
Police said the man was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail in San Jose on charges of carjacking, battery on a transit employee, delaying a transit system, resisting arrest, providing false information to police and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Neither the bus drivers nor the carjacking victim were physically injured, police said.
Anyone with information related to the case can contact the police department at 650-329-2413. Those wishing to remain anonymous can call or text 650-383-8984 or email paloalto@tipnow.org.
Source: www.mercurynews.com