WESTMINSTER : Tow-Truck Driver Held in Murder Try

A Fullerton man was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder Tuesday after he drove over a co-worker’s head with a pickup truck on the Garden Grove Freeway, police said.

California Highway Patrol officers reportedly saw Jeffrey Grigoleit, 34, run over Stephen Arthur Blais, 35, of Anaheim, according to Westminster police.

Blais was listed in fair condition at Humana Hospital in Westminster with multiple cuts to his face, head trauma, a dislocated elbow and scrapes to the shoulder.

The incident occurred about 2:20 a.m. on the shoulder of the westbound Garden Grove Freeway near Beach Boulevard, said Robin Kapp, a Westminster police spokesman.

CHP officers were called to the area by a passing motorist who noticed a “disturbance” on the freeway, Kapp said.

When the officers arrived, they saw a blue 1976 Datsun pickup truck parked on the side of the road with two feet sticking out in front of the right rear tire, Kapp said.

As the CHP car approached, Grigoleit drove off, running over Blais’ head, Kapp said.

Both men apparently work for the same Anaheim towing service and had been seen arguing Monday evening, Kapp said. He said he did not know what the men had been arguing about or how Blais came to be beneath the truck.

Grigoleit is being held in Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned today.