Man held after allegedly ramming a police car

A Santa Ana man who may have been driving under the influence rammed a police car before he was arrested Friday night, Costa Mesa police said.

Police were responding to a woman’s call that a man was loitering near her house at about 11 p.m. when they saw Jonathan West, 40, of Santa Ana, in a car smoking something in a glass pipe, Costa Mesa Police Lt. Dale Birney said. West saw the officers and ducked down in the seat, and when instructed to get out of the car he instead started it and drove away, Birney said.

A police car was driving toward him, so West stopped, backed up, and then accelerated forward, ramming the police car. Another officer drove up behind West, but he still wouldn’t get out of the car, Birney said. Officers broke the driver’s side window and used a Taser to subdue West before arresting him on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on an officer, being under the influence of a controlled substance and resisting arrest.

Birney said West’s bail was set at $25,000, but the date of his arraignment is unknown.

— Alicia Robinson