On Thursday, March 23rd, 2023, at 11:47 pm, a Turlock Police sergeant near the 500 block of W Main St, Turlock, noticed and recognized a vehicle that had been reported stolen early that morning, so he attempted to make a traffic stop on it.
Immediately, the vehicle’s driver pulled up onto the curb and its three teenage occupants fled on foot.
A perimeter was set up and the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s airship responded to assist.
The airship’s crew noticed a heat signature in the backyard of a residence in the 200 block of S Beech St and led officers to it. There, officers found and detained at gunpoint a 17-year-old Black male.
The 17-year-old was taken back to the sergeant who had attempted to make the traffic stop and was positively identified as one of the three who fled. The sergeant believed that he was the driver, however, was not certain. Regardless, the 17-year-old still obviously knew that the vehicle was stolen due to his flight, so he was arrested.
The 17-year-old was arrested and booked into Stanislaus County Juvenile Hall on the charge of buying or receiving a stolen vehicle.
The two other teens were able to escape. According to a witness, one of them had been last seen running westbound on Columbia St.
The vehicle’s owner responded to the scene to pick it up. It was returned not wrecked, stripped, or burned.
The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information that could assist in it is encouraged to call Sergeant Dominic Hernandez at 209-668-1200.
