Man arrested for trying to ram Riverside park rangers with a car after being seen at a drug deal, police say

A Norco man who tried to ram his car into the vehicle of two Riverside park rangers and fired a gun after being seen doing a drug deal has been arrested, police said.

Two Riverside Park Police specialists, unarmed civilians who patrol the parks, were wandering through Bryant Park in the Riverside community of Arlanza on March 10 at around 9:30 a.m. when a vehicle sped by and encountered a another car in a park parking lot. according to the Riverside Police Department.

Officers witnessed a brief interaction between the two vehicles, which then began to drive out of the lot when they saw patrol specialists, according to police.

“As both cars were pulling out of the parking lot, one of the vehicles involved sped toward the (police truck) in an attempt to ram or hit them, but were fortunately able to avoid being hit,” the department said in a news release Monday. .

The two officers fled the scene and heard gunshots coming from the car that had tried to ram them, according to police.

They called for backup, but neither car was immediately found.

Further investigation into the incident led the Riverside Police Department to video “confirming that one of the vehicles involved deliberately sped toward stuntmen” and fired a weapon, though police said the weapon was not fired at the officers.

Police used search warrants that investigated social media accounts to identify the driver of the car that tried to ram police specialists as 19-year-old Juan Marcos Jimenez, who had been arrested in August on narcotics and possession charges. assault weapons, police said. There was also a boy in the car, although police said he was not believed to be responsible for the shooting.

When police officers went to arrest Jimenez in Norco on March 16, he attempted to flee “by intentionally ramming one of their vehicles, but was safely apprehended,” police said in the statement.

Inside Jimenez’s car, police said they found 9 ounces of suspected fentanyl, 120 ounces of marijuana, 19 ounces of psilocybin mushrooms, hundreds of packets of marijuana and mushroom candy, a gun, ammunition and money. cash.

Jimenez was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and negligent discharge of a firearm, along with other charges, according to police.

He is currently being held at the Robert Presley Detention Center on $350,000 bond, authorities said.