Font ResizeWATSONVILLE
Teen stabbing suspects arrested
Police served search warrants at two homes Tuesday and arrested two 14-year-old Watsonville boys suspected in a gang-related stabbing earlier in the month, Sgt. Saul Gonzalez said.
The attack happened around 2 p.m. Oct. 6 when the victim, a 17-year-old boy, stopped his vehicle at a red light on Airport Boulevard and Loma Prieta Avenue. The two teens jumped out of a car behind him and ran up to the victim's vehicle, Gonzalez said. One boy allegedly started fighting the 17-year-old through the open driver's side window while the other helped.
The 17-year-old was stabbed twice in the back, but his injuries were not life-threatening, Gonzalez said. The attackers, believed to be gang members, allegedly yelled gang slurs during the fight. The teen they attacked was not a gang member but Gonzalez said "he was perceived by the suspects to be."
Police identified the attackers and got search warrants for their homes, where they were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon with a gang allegation, possessing a knife and possessing alcohol. Both were taken to Juvenile Hall, Gonzalez said.
APTOS
UCSC vans torched
An arsonist set fire to at least two UC Santa Cruz vanpool vans parked on Soquel Drive this month and likely tried to ignite a third vehicle, the Sheriff's Office reported.
The vans, used by Aptos-area staff and faculty traveling to and from the campus,
The most recent arson happened early Tuesday, Sgt. Dan Campos of the Sheriff's Office reported. Someone ransacked a van before lighting it on fire. A second van nearby had one window broken and materials piled on the seat that led investigators to believe the arsonist tried to, but failed, to ignite a fire there.
Another UC Santa Cruz van burned early on Oct. 2 and heat from that fire damaged the paint on the second van, campus spokesman Jim Burns said.
Aptos/La Selva Fire District crews responded to both fires and are investigating the arsons. Campos declined to say if an accelerant was used. No suspects have been identified and no arrests made.
Burns said the church lot is a Park'N'Ride lot operated by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission and used by UCSC. "As part of our program to reduce single-occupancy cars traveling to and from the campus, we have 23 vanpools' that ferry approximately 250 employees at the beginning and end of each work day," Burns said.
WATSONVILLE
Armed intruders beat man with gun
Sheriff's Office detectives are searching for three men who forced their way into a Dutchman Road home and beat one man during a search for someone who wasn't there, Sgt. Dan Campos said.
The attack happened around 1 a.m. Saturday.
Three Watsonville men in their 20s who don't live at that home were inside when three other men -- one armed with a black, semi-automatic handgun -- came to the door, according to the Sheriff's Office. The intruders were looking for a man who wasn't at the home, but before they left the man with the gun used the weapon to beat one of the Watsonville men. He was struck six or seven times, suffering lacerations on his head and face, Campos said.
The intruders fled in two cars and have not been found. It was unclear if the attack had gang ties, Campos said.
SCOTTS VALLEY
Driver goes wrong way on Hwy. 17
A Santa Cruz woman allegedly driving drunk on Highway 17 went the wrong way, forced other drivers off the road and crashed her 1998 Honda CRV into a tree early Thursday, the California Highway Patrol reported.
Oriana Lakshmi Porter, 25, was driving south in the northbound lanes when she wrecked around 3:40 a.m., according to the CHP.
She had no passengers and no other vehicles were involved in the crash. Porter suffered major injuries but they were not life-threatening. CHP officers arrested her at the crash scene on suspicion of driving under the influence before she was taken to Valley Medical Center in San Jose for treatment.
WATSONVILLE
Medicated motorist crashes into wall
A Moss Landing woman blacked out while driving and crashed into a concrete wall on Ohlone Parkway near Egret Lane on Thursday, Watsonville police reported.
Wendy Lou Ramirez, 21, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence, police said. She reportedly told officer she blacked out from her medications -- anti-depressants and anti-psychotics -- while driving. Ramirez also said she blacked out from the drugs on Wednesday and had spoken to her doctor about it.
No one was hurt.
Watsonville
Person flown out after collision
A person with injuries is being flown out after they were T-boned on South Green Valley Road at Hope Drive around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, according to emergency dispatchers.
An emergency helicopter landed at Aptos High School to pick up the person after heavy fog prevented a landing at Watsonville Hospital, dispatchers said.
The extent of the person's injuries was not immediately available Thursday night.
