Motorist allegedly retaliates against pedestrian by striking him and his dog with car
PHOTO: Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office
The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office has announced the arrest of a Santa Rosa man on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and felony animal cruelty.
Deputies say that around 9 AM on Monday, June 1, a man was walking his dog along Las Lomas Road in Boyes Hot Springs when a man driving a Maserti came speeding directly towards him.
As the car passed, the man walking his dog yelled at the driver to slow down, at which point the driver allegedly came to a dead stop, threw the car in reverse, and accelerated backwards, striking the man and his dog.
The man was hospitalized and is expected to survive, but his dog died at the scene.
On Wednesday, June 3, detectives following an anonymous tip found the Maserati with visible damage to the trunk parked in a drive way on the 1000 block of Elmwood Drive in Santa Rosa.
After having the vehicle towed for processing, detectives tracked down the owner, 30-year-old Juan Mendoza-Meza, at a residence on Butterfly Lane in Santa Rosa.
He has since been booked into Sonoma County Jail and is ineligible for bail.
