Panhandler Playing Music at a Gas Station Caught with a Stolen Vehicle
HERCULES — A panhandler playing loud music at a gas station was nabbed for possession of a stolen vehicle and a burglary. While fleeing the suspect hit a Hercules officer with the stolen vehicle, but he was arrested two hours later.
Hercules officers initially responded to a nuisance complaint on March 31 and discovered a man in possession of a stolen vehicle. The man struck an officer with the vehicle, as he fled from a Shell gas station at 3900 San Pablo Avenue.
It seems the suspect refused to exit the vehicle and it lurched forward, knocking one officer to the ground. Nevertheless, the man fled and hit another vehicle on Sycamore Avenue.
The officer who was knocked down was treated at a hospital for minor injuries. However, the driver of the vehicle hit by the suspect was not injured.
Hercules police pursuing the suspect lost sight of him driving eastbound on Willow Avenue. The story picks up again about two hours later.
Sheriff’s deputies responding to a burglary in Rodeo, identified the burglary suspect as the same man involved in the gas station incident. He is 28-year-old Donovan Patrick St. John, a resident of the city of Alameda.
Deputies detained St. John until Hercules officers arrived on the scene and arrested him. The stolen vehicle was later found abandoned on the 800 block of Mariner’s Pointe in Rodeo.
St. John was booked at the Martinez Detention Facility. He faces charges for assault with a deadly weapon on an officer and resisting arrest. His other charges include possession of a stolen vehicle, hit-and-run, and residential burglary.
