Authorities Wednesday released the name of a 25-year-old Anaheim man accused of stabbing a woman multiple times, stealing a car from some good Samaritans who stopped to help her and mowing down a pedestrian in a hit-and-run collision, leaving both victims hospitalized with serious injuries.
James Carlos Melendrez is jailed in lieu of $2 million bail, according to Orange County Sheriff’s Department officials.
The alleged crime spree began about 5 p.m. Tuesday in Lake Forest. The suspect got into a fight near the Salvation Army store on Rockfield Boulevard where he works, then ran into an residential complex on Ridge Route Drive and broke into an apartment, but was confronted by a man and woman inside and ran out of the unit, according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Braun.
The suspect then ran across Rockfield Boulevard and broke into a home on Danby Drive occupied by a woman in her 40s and two teenagers. He armed himself with a knife from the kitchen, and the woman ran from the home in an attempt to draw the suspect away from the youths, Braun said. While running along Mullin Road near Danby Drive with Melendrez in pursuit, the woman fell and was stabbed multiple times by the suspect, she alleged.
Three people in a white BMW pulled up and, believing Melendrez was assisting the injured woman, stopped to help, but the knife-wielding suspect chased them away and carjacked their vehicle, Braun alleged. The woman was taken to a hospital in critical condition, she said.
Melendrez allegedly drove the stolen BMW onto Lake Forest Drive at Muirlands Boulevard, where he veered into oncoming traffic before driving onto a sidewalk, striking a pedestrian in her 50s, who was also rushed to an area hospital in critical condition.
On Aspan Street, the suspect crashed the BMW into another vehicle, then jumped out of the disabled car and ran into a trailer park across Muirlands Boulevard, according to the sheriff’s department. He tried but failed to make his way into a residence, then allegedly attempted to carjack multiple vehicles on Muirlands.
A passing bicyclist pepper-sprayed the suspect, helping deputies who were just arriving on the scene to arrest him.
He was taken to an area hospital to be treated before being booked into the Orange County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder, carjacking, felony hit-and-run and possible additional offenses, Braun said. She said both victims are expected to survive their injuries.
Sheriff’s Lt. Chad Taylor, who serves as chief of police services for Lake Forest, expressed his gratitude to the residents who helped both victims, including those who put pressure on the stabbing victim’s wounds until paramedics arrived. He also thanked the cyclist who pepper-sprayed the suspect and helped end the crime spree.