San Fernando Police Arrest Man Over Beer Truck Theft
A Mission Hills man carjacked a beer truck from an Elks Lodge at gunpoint Wednesday, but was caught as he tried to escape toting two cases of malt liquor, San Fernando police reported.
David R. Vaiz, 42, allegedly pointed a .44 revolver at an Anheuser-Busch delivery driver parked outside the Elks Lodge in the 800 block of Pico Street and ordered him from the truck, a police spokesman said.
About 10 minutes later, a police officer spotted Vaiz near the intersection of Amboy and Kalisher Streets, less than a mile northeast of the scene of the crime, he said.
The officer watched Vaiz throw a pistol underneath a nearby car, and apprehended the man with a case of King Cobra Malt liquor under each arm, the dispatcher said. Police recovered the gun, he added.
“We don’t know if he planned to try and sell it or consume it,” said Detective Tony Vairo, who is conducting the investigation.
Vairo said Vaiz, who was booked on suspicion of carjacking, will probably be charged under a new state law that carries a maximum nine-year state prison term for using a weapon in a carjacking.
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