Man Carted Off To Santa Cruz Co. Jail For Suspected: DUI; Stolen, Loaded Rifle; Stolen Credit Cards; Hit-and-Run

A 20-year-old man arrested in an alleged hit-and-run collision over the weekend was found with a firearm and credit cards that were stolen, police said today.

Gilberto Uribe, a Santa Cruz resident, was arrested on suspicion of DUI, hit-and-run, possession of a stolen and loaded firearm and violating his probation.

He was also found to have an outstanding arrest warrant, police said. Around 6 p.m. Saturday, officers responded to a report of a car collision on Delaware and Fair avenues, according to police. The driver of a red Ford Focus, later identified as Uribe, struck the driver’s side of a white Volvo and fled the scene, police said.

An initial report indicated there were major injuries in the collision, but officers later determined no one was injured, according to police.

Responding officers saw two cars that matched the description of the ones involved in the collision at California and Trescony streets, about a mile away from where the accident happened, according to police.

An investigation determined that the Volvo driver followed Uribe after the collision and both cars stopped in the area of California and Trescony, police said. Witnesses reported Uribe stepped out of the car with a black backpack that he threw over a fence, according to police.

Officers later found the backpack and inside found a loaded rifle reported stolen out of Santa Clara County, police said. Uribe was allegedly found with credit cards stolen in Santa Cruz earlier that day, according to police.

He explained to officers that he fled the collision because he thought someone who wanted to shoot him was following him, police said.

Uribe was booked into county jail in lieu of $245,000 bail, according to jail records.

--Bay City News