Car theft suspect hangs outside third-story wall of Modesto garage, threatening to let go
A car theft suspect who told police he’d rather die than go back to jail clung to the third-story wall of a downtown Modesto parking garage Sunday morning for several minutes before climbing back in and surrendering.
It was a tense period because approaching a person in such a situation is risky, Lt. Steve Stanfield said at the scene. It may prompt the person to let go and fall, he said, or an officer who grabs hold also could get pulled over.
So officers simply talked with the man, the lieutenant said. “He trusted us that the officers weren’t there to hurt him, and that they were willing to listen to his side of the story, and he came off the ledge and shook our hands and got in the car,” Stanfield said. “... He wanted to say a little prayer, we allowed him to say a prayer, and then he peacefully got in the back of the car.”
The incident began about 7:45 when a woman staying at a lodging near the Tenth Street Place parking garage came outside to find her silver Infiniti gone, police said.
The woman called police, and as officers were responding, it was returned by the suspect, who’d had it a couple of hours, Stanfield said. The woman and suspect know each other, the lieutenant said, but she apparently did not know he’d taken the car.
Fearing he was about to be arrested, the man ran into the garage. Officers turned off the elevator and began searching each level.
The man was found hiding in the back of a parked pickup truck, Stanfield said. That’s when he jumped out and climbed over the ledge of the garage.
The man, estimated to be in his mid-40s, was not injured. “There may not even be a crime,” Stanfield said, explaining that it would depend on whether the woman decides to press car theft charges.
