Hemet men take 7-year-old girl along for drive in stolen car
HEMET — Officers who conducted a high-risk felony traffic stop on a stolen vehicle last night, Saturday, Nov. 18, were shocked to learn a young child was asleep in the back of the car. Officers conducted the stop in a parking lot in the area of Florida and Palm avenues in Hemet.
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City of Hemet police officers spotted the stolen car, described as a silver Toyota sedan, as it was being driven through the city around 8 p.m. When officers observed two men inside the stolen sedan they requested additional assistance and continued following the car until other officers arrived.
Officers were forced to use extra caution during a felony traffic stop last night after learning a 7-year-old girl was in the back seat of a stolen car. Tina Rivas/Hemet Valley Incidents photo
After several patrol vehicles converged on the area and were positioned behind the stolen car, officers initiated a traffic stop. The driver yielded to officers’ lights and sirens and pulled into the parking lot of Starbucks and O’Reilly Auto Parts.
Numerous officers with guns, rifles, and less-lethal options drawn, set up behind and alongside their vehicles, using their doors as protection against possible gunfire, and began calling out the driver of the car.
As the driver exited the vehicle with his hands raised he advised officers that his 7-year-old child was asleep in the back seat of the car, causing officers to use extra caution as they first detained the driver and then his male passenger.
After both driver and passenger were safely detained, officers cautiously approached the stolen car and quickly confirmed a young child was asleep in the back seat. Officers carefully woke the child, scooping the little girl up and safely moving her to a patrol vehicle.
It was not immediately known if officers arrested the two men or what they ultimately did with the young girl who had been asleep in the back seat, and officials have not yet released any information regarding the traffic stop.
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Trevor Montgomery, 47, moved last year to the Intermountain area of Shasta County from Riverside County and runs Riverside County News Source and Shasta County News Source. Additionally, he writes for several other news organizations; including Riverside County based newspapers, Valley News, The Valley Chronicle, and Anza Valley Outlook; as well as Bonsall/Fallbrook Village News in San Diego County and Mountain Echo in Shasta County.
Trevor 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, breaking his back, and suffering both spinal cord and brain injuries in an off-duty accident. (Click here to see segment of Discovery Channel documentary of Trevor’s accident.)
During his time with the sheriff’s department, Trevor worked at several different stations; including Robert Presley Detention Center, Southwest Station in Temecula, Hemet/Valle Vista Station, Ben Clark Public Safety Training Center, and Lake Elsinore Station; along with other locations.
Trevor’s assignments included Corrections, Patrol, DUI Enforcement, Boat and Personal Water-Craft based Lake Patrol, Off-Road Vehicle Enforcement, Problem Oriented Policing Team, and Personnel/Background Investigations. He finished his career while working as a Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Investigator and was a court-designated expert in child abuse and child sex-related crimes.
Trevor has been married for more than 28 years and was a foster parent to more than 60 children over 13 years. He is now an adoptive parent and his “fluid family” includes 13 children and 15 – but soon to be 16 – grandchildren.
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