A cop ends up in the hospital after escorting the VP, a failed kidnapping attempt, and a dead body in a stairwell
Sirens #1
Local motorcycle cop hit by car after escorting JD Vance is in ‘good spirits’
VP gets a taste of the new Oceanside
Vice-President J.D. Vance was in Oceanside this weekend to attend a wedding at The Seabird Ocean Resort & Spa, an oceanfront property at 101 Mission Ave.
After the wedding, a caravan took the VP to Camp Pendleton for his flight home.
Meanwhile, a veteran Oceanside PD officer, who had just completed his shift as a motorcycle escort for the VP, was on his way back to police headquarters on Mission Avenue.
The officer, whose name hasn’t been disclosed, was on Highway 76 just east of the 5 when he was struck by a driver and thrown to the pavement, sustaining minor injury. The driver was not impaired and was said to be cooperative with the police.
John McKean, Oceanside’s assistant police chief, said of the officer, who has since been released from the hospital: “It’s tough when one of your own is hurt,” noting that motorcycle officers are “more vulnerable out there because they don’t have as much protection.” McKean said the officer, who is a very experienced motorcycle rider, is “in good spirits. He never lost consciousness. He’s talking. He’s making jokes.”
The VP has a connection with San Diego through his wife Usha Chilukuri Vance, who was raised in Carmel Valley and graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in 2004. Both of her parents work in academia, her mother at the University of California, San Diego and father at San Diego State University. Another former San Diegan who plays an important role in the White House is Point Loma Nazarene University alum Natalie Harp.
San Diego news coverage of Vance’s trip failed to note that the VP has recently been criticized for intervening in Germany’s politics on behalf of the nation’s far-right, anti-immigrant AfD party.
Sirens #2
Cops nab San Diego county child kidnapper-attempter
The loss of a child is a parent’s worst, unimaginable fear. You think your kid’s cheerfully and safely walking, just steps away from school, when out of nowhere a car appears and whisks them away.
Something similar happened earlier this month when the Escondido Police, on Feb. 11th at 7:19 a.m., responded to a call of an attempted kidnapping at Pioneer Elementary School in Escondido.
The good news is that it ended well and the child was unharmed. Two heroic acts came out of this frightening episode that must be applauded: The first is that the young victim was somehow able to evade the kidnapper, managing to avoid getting into the car and having the sense to immediately tell school officials who in turn contacted the police.
The second is that detectives with the Escondido Police Department Family Protection Unit quickly responded to the scene and, according to their media statement, began an immediate investigation, working “relentlessly throughout the entire day and night developing leads in the case.”
They were looking for a dark green, four-door sedan, and they found it fast, the next morning. They got the bad guy, or who they suspect is the bad guy, Jose Cruz-Ruiz, 27, in Escondido, at what the police officials described as “a high-risk vehicle stop” on Auto Parkway near Andreasen Drive. Cruz-Ruiz was arrested and booked at the Vista Jail for 207 PC Kidnapping.
Authorities do not believe there are additional suspects involved. If you have information about the case, contact the Escondido Police Department at (760) 839-4722 or Detective Jesse Santaniello at (760) 839-4768, referencing case number 25001339.
Sirens #3
A fight that disappears into thin air and a dead body in a stairwell puzzle San Diego community
The San Diego community of Colina Del Sol, part of City Heights, is just a couple miles east of North Park.
It was the site earlier this month of a gnarly fight.
A stroke or two before midnight, on Sunday, Feb. 9th, someone called the cops.
But when the SDPD officers arrived at 4300 Dawson Avenue, there was no sign of a fight or anything unusual.
The mystery deepened when SDPD received a call the following morning.
A man was found dead in an apartment complex stairwell at 4321 52nd Street, a hop, skip and a jump from Dawson Avenue.
According to San Diego news sources, the victim was a Black man in his 40s. (SDPD will share his name with the media once they’ve notified the family of their loss.)
Astute officers noted that the victim’s physical description was similar to that of a guy said to have participated in the fight the previous night.
SDPD homicide detectives are investigating. More as this story unfolds.
In the meantime, if you have information about this case, contact the SDPD Homicide Unit at (619) 531-2293.
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