Garden Grove : Officer Injured When Pickup Rams His Car

A Garden Grove police sergeant suffered a minor concussion when a stolen pickup truck he was chasing rammed his police car.

Sgt. Jack Ray was taken to UCI Medical Center for observation and released Friday morning, Sgt. Bruce Beauchamp said. Another officer, Mark Hutchinson, was treated for a broken hand suffered during a scuffle with one of the suspects, he said.

The chase began when Hutchinson answered an anonymous call at 9:48 p.m. Thursday about people “tampering with a vehicle” in a parking lot at Brookhurst Street and Chapman Avenue. When he arrived and tried to question two men and a woman, they fled south in the pickup truck, which reportedly had been stolen in Santa Ana, Beauchamp said.

One of the men jumped from the truck on Brookhurst and escaped. After a chase through residential areas, the pickup crashed into Ray’s car at Gilbert Street and Skylark Boulevard. The driver and passenger of the pickup ran in different directions, police said.

After a scuffle, officers arrested Daniel U. Mendoza, 26, of Riverside about 100 yards away. He was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, possession of stolen property, possession of syringes and parole violations. Mendoza’s wife, Julie, 25, was arrested on suspicion of possessing stolen property.

Both were booked at Orange County Jail. Bail was set at $10,000 for Julie Mendoza. No bail was set for Daniel Mendoza because of parole violations, Beauchamp said.