Sonoma County burglary suspect allegedly swung bicycle at homeowner
PHOTO: Petaluma PD
A Sonoma County man is in custody after a series of alleged burglaries last weekend.
Petaluma Police initially received a call around 4:30 PM on February 1 about a bicycle being stolen in the area of East Washington and Lakeville Streets. Then, an hour later, another call from a resident who said they’d interrupted a burglary at their house and had a bicycle swung at them for their trouble.
Around 6 PM, the Sheriff’s Department got word of an in-progress residential burglary about a mile south of the one in Petaluma, reportedly by a suspect riding a bicycle.
At this point authorities had enough cause to believe this was all the work of one person and combined resources, setting up a perimeter around the area of the second burglary. The suspect, later identified as 29-year-old Mark Garcia, exited the house and tried to escape.
After he refused multiple commands to surrender and became combative when officers tried to arrest him, Garcia was subdued with the help of Petaluma PD K-9 officer Jax.
Though Garcia initially managed to pull Jax off him, Jax subdued him a second time, giving officers an opportunity to place him in a maximum-restraint device. Police say Garcia was combative the entire time.
After being medically cleared at an area hospital, Garcia was booked at the Sonoma County jail on suspicion of residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, resisting officers by violence, interfering with a police canine, and violation of probation.
