A 26-year-old convicted felon pleaded guilty Thursday and was immediately sentenced to three years in prison for leading Santa Ana police on a chase that ended with a crash of multiple vehicles and injuries to a pedestrian.
Juan Mendozagarcia pleaded guilty Thursday to a series of charges related to the theft of a 2004 Toyota Scion Oct. 29, 2019, according to police.
The Toyota had a Lojack anti-theft device in it, so police were able to track where it was after it was stolen, police said.
When police tried to pull Mendozagarcia over at 7:30 a.m. he kept going until he got into a high-speed crash with multiple vehicles at a shopping center at McFadden Avenue and Bristol Street, police said.
Mendozagarcia jumped out of the wrecked car and ran away, but was rounded up quickly, police said.
A pedestrian sustained a serious leg injury that required hospitalization when he became stuck between two of the cars in the crash, police said.
Mendozagarcia pleaded guilty to hit-and-run with permanent and serious injury, car theft, and possession of a controlled substance while armed with a gun, all felonies.
As part of the plea deal charges of failure to stop at a hit-and-run including an injury, evading police/reckless driving, possession of a firearm by a felon, and bringing a drug into a jail, all felonies, were dismissed. A misdemeanor charge of driving without a valid license was also scrapped.