Police arrested a Vallejo woman who fled through multiple cities after she allegedly stole from a victim in Hollister and tried to kill him as she drove away, according to authorities.
About 6:40pm March 18, Hollister Police responded to a report of a woman driving in the area of Fourth Street to Central Avenue with a man hanging onto the hood of the vehicle. When officers arrived, they found the victim lying in the roadway, seriously injured, with witnesses helping him, police said.
Paramedics arrived on scene and rendered aid to the victim before the man was flown by air ambulance to Natividad Hospital. Police said the man was suffering from life threatening injuries.
The suspect vehicle had fled the scene, but witnesses provided officers with a description and license plate number, police said. The car was registered to an address in Vallejo.
Police also used Hollister’s new FLOCK camera system, which automatically reads license plates from fixed locations on public roadway infrastructure.
Investigators determined that the camera system had captured a recording of the suspect vehicle entering Hollister prior to the March 18 crime, police said. Also while investigating, officers received an alert on the City of Gilroy’s FLOCK system, indicating the suspect had just been in Gilroy.
Authorities broadcast a “be on the lookout” alert for the vehicle, to police agencies from Hollister to Vallejo.
A California Highway Patrol officer spotted the suspect vehicle traveling northbound on U.S. 101, and stopped the car in Morgan Hill, police said. Hollister Police responded to the scene of the traffic stop and arrested the driver, identified as April Garcia, 24, of Vallejo. Officers also took custody of the vehicle Garcia was driving.
Garcia was transported back to Hollister and booked at the San Benito County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and robbery, police said.
During the investigation, officers found that “there appeared to be some transaction between the suspect and victim” in Hollister before their encounter turned violent, police said. The suspect drove away with the victim’s money, and the man jumped on the vehicle’s hood to try to stop her.
The suspect allegedly drove for about .75-mile at high speeds before the victim fell from the car’s hood to the pavement, police said.
“We would like to thank those witnesses who called and provided us with the information used to locate the suspect,” Hollister Police said in a press release. “We would also like to thank the Gilroy Police Department for their assistance with the FLOCK system and California Highway Patrol for assisting us with the stop and detention of the suspect.”
The police investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information can call the Hollister Police Department at 831.636.4331, or the anonymous tip line at 800.78.CRIME.
