Salinas man sentenced to prison for assault, evading police

A Salinas man was sentenced to 7 years and 8 months in prison after a jury found him guilty of assault, dissuading a witness, evading police, being a felon in possession of a gun and ammunition and attempting to conceal evidence.

The incident happened in February 2018. A Salinas police officer was flagged down by three people in a Safeway parking lot. One of them told the officer that they had shopped at Safeway and were sitting in their car when a brown truck pulled up next to the passenger side at a high rate of speed. The person said two women got out of the truck and attacked his friend in the backseat.

25-year-old Carlos Ibarra got out of the driver’s seat of the truck and approached the victim who reported the attack. Ibarra told him not to call the police and grabbed the victim’s cell phone out of his shirt pocket. When the victim tried to get his phone back, Ibarra assaulted him and left in the truck with the two women.

Police found Ibarra’s truck and tried to pull him over. Ibarra drove at a high rate of speed in residential areas and ran seven stop signs to avoid police. He eventually stopped and surrendered to police.

Officers found a gray pouch with 9 mm bullets on the front passenger seat of the truck, and they found the victim’s phone inside too.

Officers retraced the route of the chase and found a white back on the road. Inside was a gun and ammunition that was the same caliber that they found in Ibarra’s truck. Ibarra had been convicted of a felony, so it was illegal for him to have a gun and ammunition.