Theft Suspect Shot in Alleged Attempt to Run Down Officer

Plainclothes police officers who had set up a decoy car in the Los Angeles garment district in an effort to reduce car thefts and burglaries arrested three suspects after wounding one of them, police said Wednesday.

Thomas Anthony Baca, 50, of Pico Rivera, who was shot in the back of the head, was reported in satisfactory condition in the jail ward of County-USC Medical Center where he was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.

Police said Baca struck Officer Kelle J. Baitx, 25, with a car in an attempt to escape in the 1000 block of South Wall Street.

Baitx, a four-year LAPD veteran, tried to leap out of the way, police said, but was struck by the car, suffering bruises on his right hand and forearm. He returned to duty after treatment.

According to police, another member of the special police unit, Nicholas C. Sinibaldi, 24, fired two rounds as Baca drove toward Baitx. One of the bullets struck Baca, and the car he was driving crossed the street and rammed into a parked trailer.

Baca and two companions, Marcos J. Ramos, 37, of Commerce and Gilbert Morales, 51, of Los Angeles, were arrested without resistance after the shooting. Ramos and Morales were booked on suspicion of car burglary.

In the police operation, members of the Newton Area Special Problems Unit parked and watched a car containing boxes that supposedly held stereo equipment. They moved in after seeing Ramos and Morales break into the automobile and remove the boxes, investigators said.