Our
Officer was “Johnny On The Spot” early Wednesday morning as he was on patrol in
the Downtown.
Don’t
let this photo fool you, Officer Cathrein (pronounced Kah-Train) has cat-like
reflexes and Ninja skills!
Those
skills resulted in the arrest of 20 year old Joshua Tomasian of Milpitas for
possession of a loaded and stolen handgun, possession of cocaine, and drug
paraphernalia.
At
about 1:30 in the morning, Officer Cathrein was driving south on Front Street
near Soquel when the sounds of an argument caught his attention. As he contacts one of the involved parties in a
parking lot, he quickly realizes this is more than just a disagreement among
gentlemen!
The
victim tells Officer Cathrein that three suspects confronted him and one of
them brandished a handgun. As Officer
Cathrein is getting this information, the suspects are trying to flee in their
car.
Not
to be deterred, Officer Catherein gives chase and stops the car near Riverside
and Broadway. Since there was the possibility of weapons,
we conducted a high-risk style car stop.
This is serious business, where we shut down traffic and the occupants
of the getaway car are brought out at gunpoint.
Inside
the car was a loaded Sig Sauer .380 caliber handgun.
Mr. Tomasian was identified as the suspect
who brandished the handgun during the confrontation. He was also found with cocaine in his
possession.
According
to our suspect, he and his other two friends were here in Santa Cruz to visit
friends and decided to take a drive to try and buy marijuana. He and the victim couldn’t agree on how the
sale would go down. Somewhere in there,
Mr. Tomasian decided it was a good idea to brandish his stolen handgun. Of course, our victim knows nothing about a
marijuana transaction, and he himself has a storied history of contact with our
patrol staff.
Turns
out the gun was reported stolen out of Sunnyvale two weeks ago. Mr Tomasian claimed he bought the gun on the
streets of San Jose from some guy named “Paco”……Really???.....“Paco”.
The two other car occupants were a 27 year-old from Fremont and an 18 year-old from San Jose. There was nothing to charge them with, so they were questioned and released.
Bottom
Line….Outstanding work by Officer Cathrein and the rest of his patrol team!!!
