Man Pursues, Captures Driver of Hit-and-Run Car

Adrian Silva was in the back yard of his Rancho Santiago Boulevard home Sunday afternoon when he heard a now-familiar crash on the street.

Silva, a 29-year-old mechanic, has lived his entire life in the 11800 block of Rancho Santiago, where, he says, the traffic moves too fast and motorists are forever smashing into parked cars before racing away.

This one wasn’t going to get away, Silva vowed. He darted into the street in time to see the fleeing auto.

“The guy backed up and revved up the motor and headed south on Rancho Santiago and made a right on Center Street,” Silva recalled. “He was driving very erratically and I knew it was a matter of seconds before he was going to hit somebody else.”

After turning onto Center Street, the driver lost control of the car, which jumped a curb and smashed through the wall of a home and into its living room. No one was in the room at the time, Silva said.

Silva said he ran to the car, reached inside, put the transmission in park, turned off the ignition and put the keys in his pocket.

“The driver started saying, ‘Let me go before the police come,’ ” Silva recalled. “Then he got combative. . . . That’s when I wrestled him to the ground.”

And that’s where the 5-foot-5, 145-pound Silva held the driver, whom he described as about six feet tall and 170 pounds, until two neighbors arrived to help.

Moments later, California Highway Patrol officers arrived and placed the driver under arrest on suspicion of drunk driving. His name was not immediately available.

The CHP confirmed that when officers arrived about 4:27 p.m., Silva was detaining the driver and had his keys.

Silva said it was not the first time he has chased down a hit-and-run driver. About 10 years ago, Silva chased a driver who attempted to flee after colliding with another neighbor’s car.

“I chased him about three blocks on foot,” Silva said. “The car had a flat tire and the fender was dragging. He was driving on the rim.”