SAN JOSE — San Jose police on Sunday morning arrested the man they believe evaded capture after slamming a stolen SUV into a police patrol car late last month.
Police arrested Juan Aguilar, 24, of San Jose, at 5:11 a.m. Aguilar was allegedly driving another stolen vehicle at the time. He was also allegedly in possession of methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia and burglary tools, police said. They didn’t say how much of the drug he had in his possession or what specific paraphernalia or burglary tools he had.
Police detectives later identified Aguilar as the suspect in the earlier incident. Police Sgt. Enrique Garcia declined to say how detectives linked Aguilar to last month’s SUV theft. The police also declined to say where Aguilar was arrested.
Aguilar has been charged with two incidents of auto theft, assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon, possession of drugs, possession of burglary tools and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police also identified the officers involved in the stolen vehicle incident that took place on the 400 block of Wooster Ave. in San Jose on October 25. Jared Yuen was the officer who attempted to pull over the Isuzu Rodeo that Aguilar had allegedly stolen and was injured when Aguilar reportedly crashed the SUV into Yuen’s patrol car.
Marco Mercado and Julien Taylor were the officers who subsequently shot at the SUV as Aguilar allegedly drove away.
All three officers are on routine administrative leave while the incident is being investigated.
That incident marked the fifth officer-involved shooting this year, two of which have resulted in fatalities. Last year, San Jose police were involved in 12 such shootings, six of which ended in fatalities.