Two arrested after leading Watsonville police on chase in stolen car

Four suspects in a stolen car led police on a chase Thursday morning in Watsonville.

An officer spotted the car near Brewington Avenue and Orchard Street just before 8 a.m. and after running its license plate, discovered the car had been stolen during a recent carjacking in Stockton.

Officers attempted a high-risk traffic stop but the suspect car took off through downtown Watsonville before crashed into an embankment near Tuttle Street.

Four men got out of the car and took off. Watsonville police were assisted in their search by officers from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Cruz police K-9 and the California Highway Patrol.

Two of the men were apprehended but the other two are outstanding.

John Oliveri, 18, and Rogelio Serrano, 21, were arrested and booked into Santa Cruz County Jail on various charges. Police are asking for the public’s help in locating the driver, Erivan Chavez of Watsonville.

Inside the car, officers also found a loaded gun, ammunition and unspecified drugs.

According to the Stockton Record, the car was stolen from a 60-year-old security guard who was beaten and shot near Victory Park last week.

The victim told Stockton police he was standing next to his car when he was approached by three men, all armed with revolvers, who arrived in a red 2000s-model Dodge pickup with an extended cab. The assailants forced the victim to sit on the ground and then struck him with an unknown object, police said.

The victim attempted to fight back when the assailants started to take his property, and that’s when he was shot, officers said.

The victim was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.