Two men were arrested early Saturday after shoplifting vodka from a grocery store and then striking a San Francisco police officer and two patrol cars with their vehicle, a police spokesman said today.
The incident was reported around 2:20 a.m. Saturday at a Safeway store at 4950 Mission St.
Officers were heading to the store to get a snack when they saw a man walk out with a store employee behind him pointing at him, police spokesman Officer Albie Esparza said.
After the man got into the passenger seat of a car, the officers went to the vehicle to try to detain him, but the suspect and the driver of the car ignored their orders and tried to drive away, Esparza said.
As they tried to flee, an officer struck a window of the car with a flashlight, breaking it and causing a cut to his hand, according to Esparza.
The driver then sped away, crashing into two parked police cars and hitting one of the officers, Esparza said.
The officer was thrown onto the hood of the car then fell off on the driver’s side, Esparza said. He was taken to San Francisco General Hospital to be treated for his injuries, which are not considered life-threatening.
Other officers tried to give chase but lost track of the vehicle. However, a short time later, a Daly City police officer noticed a car with front-end damage, Esparza said.
Believing the vehicle may have been involved in a hit-and-run, the officer followed it and saw the driver run a stop sign, then pulled the car over, Esparza said.
By that point, San Francisco police had relayed to Daly City police what had happened at the Safeway store, and the two men in the car were identified as the suspects in the case and arrested.
Aldo Fiorentini Jr. 23, of Antioch, the driver of the car, was arrested on suspicion of resisting arrest resulting in injury to an officer, assault with a deadly weapon, felony hit-and-run, burglary, robbery, conspiracy and reckless driving, according to Esparza.
The man who allegedly stole the vodka from the store, Jefferson Ostolaza, 23, of San Francisco, was booked on suspicion of burglary, robbery and conspiracy.
The officer cut by the broken glass of the car window was also taken to San Francisco General Hospital to be treated for his injury.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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