RIVERSIDE: Suspect “beat up and taken down” by car he allegedly stole

RIVERSIDE – Police officials are crediting a stolen car with helping to subdue a man who allegedly stole the vehicle Sunday, March 5. The incident led to the alleged thief’s arrest, which happened in the area of Buchanan Avenue and Elmview Drive in Riverside.

After an investigation – and being medically cleared by a local hospital for injuries he received from the feisty car – officers arrested Jose Abarca, 24, of Tustin.

Abarca was booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside on suspicion of being in possession of the stolen vehicle, theft of personal property, and possession of a controlled substance.

After he was arrested, Riverside police officials praised the car, writing, “The stolen car is commended with assisting in (Abarca’s) arrest.”

The incident began when City of Riverside police officers spotted a car that had been reported stolen about 11:30 p.m. Officers conducted a traffic stop on the stolen vehicle.

When officers initiated the traffic stop, the driver, who was later identified as Abarca, abruptly stopped the stolen car, threw open the driver’s side door, and immediately attempted to flee on foot from the vehicle.

Clearly, the car had been waiting for the opportunity and had other plans for the alleged car thief.

When Abarca attempted to leap from the car, “the door swung back and hit the him in the head as he was getting out,” Riverside Police Officer Ryan Railsback explained in a press release after the incident and arrest.

The impact of Abarca’s head hitting the frame of the door knocked the alleged thief to the ground, where officers safely took him into custody without further incident.

Abarca’s booking photo, that was taken shortly after his arrest, clearly showed a visible injury to the right side of his forehead, where the car door slammed into his face when he attempted to flee.

Jeremiah Johnson, a Moreno Valley resident who witnessed the dramatic and comical incident and arrest later said, “It was like that car had a mind of it’s own and just decided to take matters into it’s own hands.”

“I nearly pulled a muscle from laughing so hard when that clown was beat up and taken down by the very car he stole,” Johnson continued.

An online jail records search revealed Abarca was released from jail the same day he was booked after he posted $10,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned at the Riverside Hall of Justice May 5.

 

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Trevor Montgomery spent 10 years in the U.S. Army as an Orthopedic Specialist before joining the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in 1998. He was medically retired after losing his leg in an off-duty accident.

During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations, including the Robert Presley Detention Center, the Southwest Station in Temecula, the Hemet Station, and the Lake Elsinore Station, along with many other locations.