Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Coachella man after he went a tad berserk and allegedly attacked a car, scaring off the driver, then tried to drive away only to be stopped by vigilante vehicles, and then passed out while being arrested.
The Sheriff’s Department got a 9-1-1 call at 2:08 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26 from the intersection of Teft Street and Thompson Avenue in Nipomo of “a man running in circles in the middle of the road,” said Sheriff’s Spokesman Tony Cipolla. “Witnesses reported the man had a large wrench in his hand.”
One driver hit the brakes to keep from running the berserk, screaming man over, which in hindsight might have been a mistake.
“At that point,” Cipolla said, “the man jumped on top of the car and smashed the windshield with the wrench.” The driver got out of the vehicle and the berserk, screaming, wrench-wielding fellow jumped into the car and tried to drive away but didn’t get far.
“Other drivers in the area,” Cipolla said, “used their cars to trap the suspect to keep him from escaping.” Deputies soon arrived on scene and detained him, and no one was reported injured. But the suspect had one more scene to play out.
“While being handcuffed the suspect passed out,” Cipolla said. The man was allegedly found in possession of what was initially an unidentified, suspected narcotic when deputies searched his person. An ambulance was called and the now unconscious, screaming, wrench-wielding, jacked-up, carjacking, possible dope fiend was taken to the hospital under arrest.
The crime lab tested the substance to identify what no doubt set off this bit of mayhem and Cipolla said it tested positive for methamphetamine. The suspect, Soloni Santini Lucio, 35 of Coachella, Calif., was booked into County Jail after his release from the hospital, with possible charges of carjacking, vehicle theft and DUI.
One note, Cipolla said this photo is a previous mug shot of the suspect from an arrest on Feb. 9, 2015.
