On Saturday morning at approximately 4:53 a.m., officers were monitoring traffic entering the City of Coronado when they observed a vehicle westbound on the bridge at a high rate of speed. After confirming the vehicle’s speed of 81 mph in a 50 mph zone, officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop on the vehicle in the 300 block of Pomona Avenue. The vehicle, a gray 1994 Nissan Sentra, slowed to approximately 20 mph, but failed to yield to the officers. The vehicle continued westbound and entered Naval Air Station North Island property at the main gate.
The suspect stopped for Navy sentries, but then attacked Coronado police officers by backing his vehicle rapidly, striking and damaging one patrol car. The suspect then drove away westbound into the base where his vehicle was immediately stopped by a hydraulic barrier system. As Coronado police officers approached the rear of the vehicle, the suspect assaulted the officers by ramming his vehicle into their patrol cars a second time. Officers used their vehicles to prevent additional movement by the suspect’s vehicle, and initiated a high-risk stop on the two occupants. Both subjects were taken into custody without further incident.
The driver, later identified as 18-year-old Jorge Daniel Lopez, of Tijuana, was arrested for three counts of assault with a deadly weapon (vehicle) on a police officer, (felony) evading officers, and resisting arrest. The female passenger, 20-year-old Janet Rivera, of San Diego, was taken into custody for resisting and delaying officers, as well as public intoxication. Both were booked into County Jail. No one was injured in this incident.
