COACHELLA—A driver and passenger in a stolen car attempted to evade arrest after abandoning the escape vehicle, but were quickly discovered.
Coachella Police officers while on patrol Monday at 8:45 AM, spotted a vehicle which had been reported stolen. The vehicle was stolen in the city of La Quinta. When the officers attempted to pull over the vehicle in the area of Ave 50 and Van Buren Street, Coachella, the suspects fled at a high rate of speed.
The occupants of the stolen car were able to evade arrest, but not for the long. The driver and a female passenger abandoned the vehicle in the 83000 block of Jaderock Road and ran from the scene. A third vehicle occupant, Efrain Simon Arriaga, age 24, of Coachella, was arrested at the scene for possession of drug paraphernalia.
Officers conducted an extensive yard-to-yard search in the area near the vehicle seeking the two suspects evading arrest. Authorities ultimately found the two suspects attempting to hide in a residence in the 83000 block of Shadowrock Drive.
Police arrested Gilardo Davila, age 25, of Coachella, for vehicle theft, being a convicted felon in possession of a loaded handgun, possession of stolen property, resisting arrest, and a no-bail felony warrant for violating the terms of his probation. Jessica Garcia, age 23, of Coachella, the passenger, was arrested for a felony narcotics-related warrant and resisting arrest.
Davila was booked into Riverside County Jail in Indio with no bail. Garcia was also booked in Indio in lieu of $57,500 bail. Arriaga was released, pending a court a date.
According to Sergeant Tim White in a press release, property from a second stolen vehicle recovered in the immediate area was located in the vehicle Davila was driving. The Coachella Police Department is currently conducting an investigation on the additional stolen vehicle.
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