Police: Carjacking Suspect Hurts Elderly Woman in DUI Hit-Run

After a parking enforcement officer spotted his car, a 28-year-old Hayward man was arrested in Petaluma Saturday morning after allegedly injuring an 81-year-old woman in a hit and run, according to an arrest summary issued by the Petaluma Police Department:

On the above date and time, Petaluma officers were dispatched to Payran St. @ E. Washington St. for a felony hit & run vehicle collision.

The injured victim, an 81-year-old female resident of Petaluma, was transported by ambulance to Memorial Hospital for treatment of serious but non-life threatening injuries.

She reported the suspect vehicle fled e/b on E. Washington St. toward US-101. 

Petaluma officers discovered the front license plate of the suspect vehicle had fallen off at the scene. A check of the license plate indicated the vehicle had been stolen in an Oakland carjacking earlier in the morning.

The vehicle description was broadcast to Marin and Sonoma County law enforcement agencies and Petaluma officers began a search, primarily on the east side of Petaluma, where the vehicle was last seen. 

At 8:36 AM, Kimberly Mota, a Petaluma parking enforcement officer, saw the vehicle driving through downtown Petaluma. She broadcast this information to patrol officers who stopped the vehicle and arrested the driver, Raul Velazquez.

Deputies from the Sonoma Sheriff’s Department assisted at the arrest location. 

Velazquez was arrested for: (1) Driving a stolen vehicle, (2) Carjacking, (3) Felony DUI for driving a vehicle under the influence and causing an injury, (4) Felony Hit & Run for leaving the scene of an injury collision, and (5) an outstanding “No Bail” arrest warrant for a prior theft. 

Velazquez was booked into the Sonoma County Jail without bail, police said. Arrest information does not indicate a conviction.

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