Victim Hurt, Suspect Injured in Pair of O.C. Carjackings

Two Saturday carjackings left the victim of one in Fountain Valley seriously injured and the suspect of another in Huntington Beach critically injured.

Assailants beat a 58-year-old man in the Fountain Valley and stole his van with $30,000 worth of blue jeans inside, police said.

Police said three robbers with handguns approached the victim as he was backing the vehicle out of his driveway in the 11000 block of Begonia Avenue. They beat him in the head with their guns before pulling him out of the 1985 Ford van, police said. He was taken to Fountain Valley Hospital where he was in serious but stable condition.

Authorities were searching for the assailants and the van, which has the license plate 2M73413.

In the Huntington Beach incident, Jesse Maldanado Jr., 31, of Hawaiian Gardens was hospitalized after crashing the 1990 Ford Mustang he allegedly stole from a parking lot off Pacific Coast Highway near the city pier.

Police said a Ventura man was standing next to his unlocked car about 4:20 p.m. when a gunman stole it. A Huntington Beach motorcycle officer spotted the car and gave pursuit. The chase ended when the car crashed into four others, a signal pole and a wall at Newland Street and Garfield Avenue.

Maldanado was listed in critical condition at UCI Medical Center.