At about 12:54am Monday morning, Officer De La Cruz observed a driver at S. Berkeley Avenue and S. Golden State Boulevard violate the California Vehicle Code, so he attempted to make a traffic stop on him.
Instead of immediately stopping as required, the driver drove to a residence in the 1200 block of S. Minaret Avenue where he finally stopped.
De La Cruz contacted and identified the vehicle’s two occupants, including Stephen Baker, 24, of Merced, who became confrontational with him.
As De La Cruz was writing Baker’s citation, his female passenger got out of the vehicle and ran inside the house because she needed to pee, even though she was lawfully detained and not free to leave. Despite this, De La Cruz didn’t make a big deal out of it.
Eventually, De La Cruz finished writing Baker’s citation and approached him. Baker refused to sign the citation and continued being confrontational with De La Cruz, borderline threatening him. At that point, De La Cruz gave Baker a lawful order to exit the vehicle, which he refused to comply with. De La Cruz grabbed Baker’s arm and he slapped his hand away, all while the female passenger had returned from inside the residence and was yelling at officers.
Baker finally exited the vehicle and was able to be placed in handcuffs without further incident.
Baker was arrested and booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on charges of resisting a peace officer and battery on a peace officer.
