20 Vehicles Hit by Driver in Hijacked Truck; Suspect Seized

A gunman hijacked a tractor-trailer truck and sped the wrong way down a street for more than a mile Monday afternoon, hitting 20 vehicles before coming to a halt in a swampy field where he was arrested, authorities said.

Monte Blevins, 35, of Santa Rosa was taken in handcuffs to a medical clinic, where he was treated for possible drug intoxication, Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies said.

Four motorists were hospitalized and several others suffered minor injuries after their vehicles were struck by the big truck, officers said.

Minutes before the hijack, witnesses reported, Blevins was seen driving a stolen pickup truck in reverse and in the wrong direction on a nearby street, deputies said. He abandoned the pickup and seized the 18-wheel flatbed truck at gunpoint as it left a lumber yard on the western outskirts of Santa Rosa, firing several shots in the process, deputies said.

“The suspect began ramming other cars on Stony Point Road as he went south, driving against oncoming traffic,” a sheriff’s statement said. “The truck traveled through an intersection and continued south one mile before driving into a flood control ditch, where the suspect was arrested by deputies and the California Highway Patrol.”

Blevins was booked for investigation of armed robbery, attempted homicide and vehicle theft and was being held without bail.