Man arrested after South Coast Plaza carjacking

Deepa Bharath

SOUTH COAST PLAZA -- Police arrested an 18-year-old man Monday night

on suspicion of carjacking and assaulting a 50-year-old woman in a South

Coast Plaza parking garage, officials said.

Jose Rosario Torres was arrested in Santa Ana late Monday after

officers in that city received word of the incident, said Costa Mesa

Police Lt. Dale Birney.

Police did not release the victim’s name to protect her.

Birney said the woman had gotten her hair done about 9:15 p.m. and

walked out of the west doors of the plaza into the parking structure in

the 3300 block of Bear Street.

“As she was heading to her parked car, she said she saw this man who

she thought had looked suspicious,” he said.

The woman walked to her 1999 GMC Yukon, got in and put her key in the

ignition. But as she was about to start the car, she saw the assailant

standing at the driver’s side window pointing a gun at her, Birney said.

He said the man ordered her to get out of the car, then hit her on the

face either with the gun or his hand and kicked her as she fell face down

on the ground.

Birney said the assailant was accompanied by another man, whose role

in the incident was unclear.

After striking her, the assailant and his companion drove her car out

of the parking structure. The woman suffered a cut lip and was checked by

a medical professional but was not admitted to a hospital, Birney said.

About an hour after the incident, Santa Ana police found the stolen

car abandoned in their city, he said.

“But they worked on witness reports that told them the two men had

left this car and got in another car -- a Lincoln Towncar -- and left,”

Birney said.

Police spotted the car and arrested Torres, identifying him as the

suspected carjacker and assailant, he said. Birney said there is no

indication that Torres stole property other than the car or that the

incident is gang-related.

Torres has been charged with armed robbery, carjacking and assault

with a deadly weapon. He is being held in Costa Mesa jail with bail set

at $50,000.