Suspected carjacker gets snagged by traffic

Deepa Bharath

NEWPORT-MESA -- Apparently, carjackers get stuck in traffic too.

A Dana Point man who allegedly carjacked a 22-foot delivery truck

Thursday morning led police on a 20-mile chase down the Corona del Mar

Freeway that ended when he ran into a traffic jam in Laguna Niguel, where

officials then arrested him, Newport Beach police said.

Wilson Villanueva, 21, was arrested at about 9:20 a.m. at the corner

of Alicia Parkway and Niguel Road without incident, said Newport Beach

Police Sgt. Steve Shulman. No weapons were used and no one was hurt in

the incident, he said.

Shulman said Villanueva pulled the driver of the truck out just past 9

a.m. near 28th Street and Newport Boulevard in Newport Beach. While no

officer was present at the scene, Newport Beach police continued to get

calls about cars that had been sideswiped by the truck, Villanueva

apparently had a tough time controlling, he said.

He reportedly sideswiped three cars, including one parked car at the

corner of Newport Boulevard and 17th Street, another near Irvine Avenue

and 17th Street and a third one near Campus Drive and Quail Street.

“He was not going very fast,” Shulman said. “It was not a high-speed

chase. But he definitely was not driving safely.”

He said the chase was initiated by a Costa Mesa police patrol officer,

who spotted Villanueva near Bristol Street and the Corona del Mar

Freeway.

Shulman said it is not known why Villanueva took the truck. He said

the truck driver told police that Villanueva had attempted to hijack an

Orange County Transportation Authority bus in the same area before he got

to his truck.

Villanueva was booked on suspicion of carjacking. He is being held in

Newport Beach jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.