People v. Smith CA1/1

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Offenses In March 2022, a police officer saw Smith on the freeway and told him to stay off it. Two weeks later, the officer again spotted Smith walking on the freeway. When the officer instructed Smith to come towards him, Smith ran

1 away from him across the freeway lanes. The officer was able to detain Smith after he fell on the shoulder of the freeway. Smith was charged with resisting or obstructing a peace officer (Pen. Code, § 148, subd. (a)(1)) 1; disobeying a lawful order from a peace officer (Veh. Code, § 2800, subd. (a)); and pedestrian on a freeway (Veh. Code, § 21960, subd. (a)). Approximately eight months later, Smith took the car of a 78-year-old woman while she was parked behind a store. The woman was sitting in the car when Smith approached the vehicle, opened the driver’s side door, and said he needed a ride. She told him no and attempted to close the door. Smith wedged “a metal object that she [thought] was a bat” between the door and the door frame to prevent it from closing. He then grabbed the woman’s arm and pulled her out of the car. He pushed her down to the pavement and pressed the metal object into her stomach while he got into…