Morgan Hill
– A Gilroy man was arrested after a short foot pursuit through
several parking lots a across a busy four-lane road.
Steven Shores, 38, of Gilroy, was arrested on suspicion of
attempted carjacking, check fraud, attempting to use a false ID,
resisting arrest and destruction of evidence.
Morgan Hill – A Gilroy man was arrested after a short foot pursuit through several parking lots a across a busy four-lane road.
Steven Shores, 38, of Gilroy, was arrested on suspicion of attempted carjacking, check fraud, attempting to use a false ID, resisting arrest and destruction of evidence.
The Wednesday afternoon incident began when Morgan Hill Police received a call from Bank of the West in Tennant Station shopping center at 1:06pm reporting someone trying to use false identification to cash a government check, according to Sgt. David Myers.
When the officer arrived on the scene, Shores was still inside the bank, but he was near the front door of the bank, “getting antsy,” Myers said.
The officer approached Shores and asked him to sit down with him so they could “straighten things out.” As Shores started to sit down, he reached into the waistband of his pants under his shirt, as if to pull out a weapon, and the officer sprayed Shores with pepper spray in his face and upper torso, Myers said.
There was no visible effect from the spray, police said. Shores then ran out of the bank and through the parking lot and across Monterey Road to the Vineyard Town Center parking lot.
“The officer chased him through the McDonald’s parking lot, and as he was approaching Erik’s Deli, Shores spotted a female in a van, moving slowly,” said Myers.
Shores yelled to the woman to stop her vehicle, then grabbed the door handle, opened the driver’s door and attempted to pull her out.
He was unable to because she was wearing a seatbelt, and by then the officer caught up with him. But Shores pulled away from the officer and the van and fled a short distance before a bystander blocked his way.
As Shores raised his fist to strike the bystander, the officer struck him three times in the upper thigh with his baton before Shores complied with the officer’s orders.
Additional officers arrived on the scene, and Shores was taken into custody without further incident.
He suffered minor bumps and bruises. The officer and the male witness were not injured. The woman driving the van was shaken up, but uninjured.
