RIPON -- A Ripon man is in custody after police said he intentionally crashed his car, carrying his girlfriend and their 4-year-old daughter, into a utility pole.
Ripon police responded to the 500 block of Stockton Avenue on Monday morning for a report of a heated argument between a man and a woman, according to Sgt. Steve Merchant.
Officers learned from a witness that during the argument, the man took his 4-year-old child from her mother and got into his car. The mother, fearing for her daughter's safety, got into the car, and the man drove south on Highway 99, police said.
The man and woman fought as they drove on the highway, and the man told her he was going to kill them all, Merchant said.
On Hammett Road, south of the Hammett overcrossing in Salida, the car rammed into a utility pole.
The girl's mother had buckled her into a seat belt before the crash, but the impact and the dust from the air bag deploying made it difficult for her to breathe. The girl and her mother suffered minor injuries.
While Ripon police detectives were completing their investigation at the couple's house, they heard the call about the Salida crash and rushed to the scene. When they arrived, a 911 caller told the dispatcher that a driver saw the man running north in the highway median.
Ripon police officer Erik Boger located the man about two miles from the crash scene in Ripon on Parallel Avenue. The suspect was taken into custody without incident.
David Allen Goulet, 24, was arrested on suspicion of attempted vehicular manslaughter, kidnapping, false imprisonment and child cruelty charges.
Bee staff writer Erin Tracy can be reached at etracy@modbee.com or (209) 578-2366.
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