Suspect’s Arrest Is a Matter of Chance

A chance encounter with the man who allegedly robbed him at gunpoint four days earlier allowed an Anaheim man to capture a suspected robber, Fullerton police said Sunday.

Romualdo B. Rodriguez, 30, of Anaheim was driving along Chapman Avenue on the eastern edge of Fullerton at 6:12 p.m. Saturday, near the Placentia border, when he thought he recognized the robber who stole his brother’s 1982 Plymouth Reliant last Tuesday, said Lt. Rex Stricklin of the Fullerton Police Department.

At the time of the robbery, Rodriguez had been waiting inside his brother’s car at an Anaheim market when the man allegedly threatened him with a gun and then took the vehicle, police said.

The suspect was still driving the brother’s car when Rodriguez spotted him Saturday, police said. Driving his own car, Rodriguez chased him for several miles and eventually caught him in Fullerton at a traffic light on Imperial Highway in Brea. Both the robber and Rodriguez jumped out of their cars, police said, and the chase continued on foot.

Moments later, Rodriguez wrestled the man down and struck him several times with an anti-theft “club” used to protect cars, Stricklin said. The suspect did not appear to be badly injured and was not hospitalized, he added.

The suspect, 20-year-old Augustin Calzada of Fullerton, was arrested by Fullerton police, who turned him over to Anaheim police. Calzada was being held Sunday on suspicion of armed robbery and grand theft, said Lt. Ray Welch of the Anaheim Police Department.

Although Rodriguez managed to capture the suspect, Fullerton Police Lt. Mike Stedman said he was concerned that Rodriguez could have been hurt in the process.

“I’m sure he was aware that the suspect had a gun before, and I would hate to have seen him seriously hurt trying to apprehend the robber,” Stedman said.