BAKERSFIELD, California — A man was arrested Wednesday night after he allegedly led police on a chase, crashed into a car, and then intentionally hit a patrol car.
The Bakersfield Police Department said that on May 31, 2023, around 10:30 p.m., officers went to a stabbing call in the 400 block of 20th Street.
Responding officers tried to stop a car that was moving away from where the stabbing was reported to see if the driver was involved. However, the car’s driver, 40-year-old Leopoldo Barrios, didn’t stop for the officers, according to police.
During the car chase, Barrios threw a loaded gun out of the car and hit an unrelated occupied vehicle at Union Avenue and California Avenue. Police said that the crash hurt a man in the car only slightly. Police said that Barrios still wouldn’t listen to them.
Barrios ran away from the car after police say he knowingly hit a chasing police car in a cul-de-sac in the 500 block of East 11th Street.
During a foot chase in which police used only minor force, he was taken into custody.
The cops say that they found methamphetamine on Barrios.
The officer in the police car that Barrios hit while it was occupied got a minor injury.
Barrios was arrested for felon in possession of a firearm, felony evading, assault with a dangerous weapon on a peace officer, hit and run, possession of methamphetamine, and more weapons charges. He had been convicted of a felony before and was on Post Release Community Supervision.
He was taken to the Kern County Jail after getting medical clearance because of the crash and the use of physical force.
Police said that they had found out that no stabbing took place.
