A 25-year-old man suspected of fleeing from sheriff’s deputies and colliding with a pickup truck while driving under the influence and running red lights in Moreno Valley was being held Tuesday on $750,000 bail.
Gabriel Cabrera of Moreno Valley was arrested and booked into the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside on Monday on suspicion of hit-and-run resulting in great bodily injury, assault with a deadly weapon, DUI resulting in injuries, being under the influence of a controlled substance, driving on a suspended license and felony evading.
Cabrera’s passenger, 21-year-old Robert Ortega Valdez of Moreno Valley, was booked into the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Valdez is being held on $30,000 bail.
According to Sgt. Chad Craig of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, at about 10:15 a.m. Monday, patrol deputies spotted Cabrera speeding in a 2008 BMW sedan southbound on Indian Street, near Dracaea Avenue.
Craig said the deputies recognized the vehicle as one allegedly involved in a chase days earlier, which successfully eluded law enforcement officers.
The deputies initiated a pursuit, during which Cabrera drove “erratically at a high rate of speed, running stop signs, failing to stop at red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road,” the sergeant said.
A sheriff’s helicopter crew took over the pursuit, monitoring the BMW’s movements, observing Cabrera and Valdez allegedly “throwing numerous beer bottles out of the vehicle,” Craig said.
He said several motorcycle units caught up with the vehicle and were tailing it when Cabrera “ran a red light and collided with a Ford Ranger at the intersection of Kitching Street and Cactus Avenue.”
“The impact of the collision caused the Ford to overturn and collide with two additional vehicles,” the sheriff’s spokesman said.
He alleged that Cabrera tried to flee on foot, but deputies ran after him, ultimately apprehending him in a flood control channel. Valdez was taken into custody without incident at the scene of the collision.
Craig said the occupants of the pickup and the other two vehicles suffered minor to moderate injuries. They were taken to nearby Riverside University Medical Center for treatment.
Cabrera and Valdez were not hurt.
Background information on the suspects was unavailable, though jail records indicated that Cabrera was out on bail at the time. His alleged prior acts were not specified, however.