San Jose: Two arrested after clothing store robbery and police chase crash
SAN JOSE — A man and woman were arrested Monday evening after a violent episode that involved a store robbery with a fake gun, the assault of a police officer, and a brief chase that ended in a multi-car wreck in East San Jose, authorities said.
The sequence began to unfold at 5:43 p.m., when San Jose police officers were called to a clothing store in the 3000 block of Story Road after a store clerk reported that someone brandished a gun inside the business, and stole merchandise, according to a police news release.
Relying on a description given at the store, police say officers spotted a suspicious car about a mile away near Clayton Road and Harvest Drive, and conducted a traffic stop. During that stop, neither the woman driving the car nor the male passenger followed the officers’ orders, police said; the man got out of the car and attacked one officer with a box cutter, according to authorities.
The officer who was attacked was not seriously injured, police said. Afterwards, the man ran off and got back into the car, and the woman drove off. Police said officers chased the car with their patrol vehicle’s lights and sirens flashing, but the fleeing driver did not pull over.
Moments later, the car ran a red light at Story Road and East Capitol Expressway and caused a crash involving several vehicles. Police said the man and woman got out and tried to run away, but they were both caught and arrested near the crash site.
A subsequent search of the pair and the car recovered an air pistol that police described as a replica firearm, and a box cutter presumably used in the attack on the officer during the earlier traffic stop, police said.
The extent of injuries for motorists and passengers was not disclosed, but police said all of the injured people were expected to survive. The intersection, one of busiest in the city, was closed for nearly three hours while investigators examined the scene.
Police did not identify the two people arrested Monday evening, but confirmed they were both booked into the Santa Clara County jail on suspicion of multiple felonies. The department said it will release more information about the arrests later in the week.
Anyone with information for investigators can contact the SJPD robbery unit at 408-277-4166 or email Detective Clifford Grodin at 4591@sanjoseca.gov, or leave a tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-7867 or at svcrimestoppers.org.