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Firefighters put out a blaze that resulted from an accident involving a stolen car; one of the juveniles seen fleeing the sedan was arrested for suspicion of strong-arm robbery. |
Teenage boy arrested for strong-arm robbery
April 11, 2014
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Santa Paula Police arrested a teenage boy Monday afternoon for the strong-arm street robbery of a female’s purse, but not before a string of wild events that started with the victim elbowing him in the stomach and ended with a fiery car crash.
SPPD Sgt. Cody Madison said the April 7 incident started at approximately 12:55 p.m. when “officers responded to the 200 block of West Santa Paula Street for a strong arm robbery that had just occurred.”
According to Madison, the robbery occurred when, “The suspect exited a vehicle, ran over to the victim who was walking home, and attempted to take her cell phone.
The victim elbowed the suspect in the stomach and the suspect then let go of the phone,” but the suspect was able to take the victim’s purse and he fled the scene in the vehicle.
As SPPD Officers were talking to the victim dispatch advised of a grey sedan that had been involved in a solo traffic accident at the intersection of Foothill and Briggs roads.
Witnesses reporting the accident told dispatch they saw two male juveniles fleeing from the vehicle, which had run off the road landing with the front-end nose down in a culvert.
When SPPD Officers arrived on scene Madison said they found the car, “fully engulfed in flames.”
After the vehicle fire was put out by fire department personnel, a check on the sedan showed that it had been reported stolen out of Oxnard.
As SPPD Detective Michael Hoppin drove in the area looking for suspects at Santa Paula Street and Briggs Road he observed two male subjects enter a van.
“An enforcement stop was placed on the vehicle,” and the victim of the robbery was brought to the scene where she positively identified the juvenile suspect-a resident of Santa Paula-as the person who had taken her purse.
Madison said the 15-year-old suspect was taken to Santa Paula Hospital for a medical clearance before he was transported to Juvenile Hall and booked on a charge of strong-arm robbery.
No one was hurt in the incident.
