People v. Medrano CA1/1

I. BACKGROUND

A. Medrano Drives Over an Officer’s Patrol Car with a Large Truck In March 2023, Medrano was driving a “large box truck” with “18- wheeler size tires.” Officer Joseph DeOrian of the Richmond Police Department saw the truck run a red light and then a stop sign. He followed the truck in his patrol vehicle and activated his lights and siren. Medrano “tr[ied] to accelerate away.” Medrano then “brake check[ed]” the officer,

1 Undesignated statutory references are to the Penal Code.

1 abruptly slamming his brakes while traveling at speed. The officer had “to slam on [his own] brakes” to avoid a “crash.” Medrano turned onto a dead- end street and abruptly stopped. After Medrano stopped, Officer DeOrian heard over dispatch that the truck had been reported stolen. Using his public address system, he told Medrano “[t]o turn off [his] engine and do it now.” The officer was about 25 feet behind the truck, with one leg outside of the door to his patrol car. Upon the officer’s command, Medrano immediately put the truck in reverse, “accelerated backwards,” and “collided with the front of [the] patrol car[,] pushing [Officer DeOrian] out of the way.” The truck easily “punted” the…