National City’s police chief arrested a burglary suspect at gunpoint Wednesday morning.
Footage shot by OnScene TV shows Chief Jose Tellez pointing his gun at a man on a city street, ordering him to “Get down! Now!” A uniformed officer quickly pulls up to the scene and runs a pair of handcuffs to the chief, who has the suspect prone on the ground.
The suspect was one of three men believed to have been involved in an early morning break-in at a nearby locksmith kiosk.
About 5:30 a.m., someone called 911 to report the burglary at the kiosk in South Bay Plaza, on East Plaza Boulevard at Highland, Sgt. Ken Springer said.
CHULA VISTA
A young man accused of driving drunk and causing a crash in National City that killed his 19-year-old passenger pleaded not guilty Friday to gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and other charges.
Oscar Munguia, 20, is accused in the Feb. 15 death of National City resident Leslie Lepron, who was riding in the back seat when the vehicle crashed on East Plaza Boulevard near Interstate 805 at around 1:30 a.m.
Deputy District Attorney Hailey Williams alleged that Munguia was driving without a license and was going faster than 75 mph at the time of the crash.
The prosecutor said the defendant’s blood-alcohol content was measured at about .13 percent shortly after the crash. In California, it is illegal to drive with a blood alcohol content of .08 percent or higher.
NATIONAL CITY
A space heater is being blamed for sparking an early morning fire inside a business office at a National City car lot that caused thousands of dollars in damage.
Firefighters were dispatched to National City Boulevard near East Plaza Boulevard shortly after 2:05 a.m. after someone spotted smoke coming from an office at the car lot. Firefighters forced open the door of the office and found a fire burning in the front of the building, said National City Battalion Chief Robert Hernandez.
It took crews about 20 minutes to knock down the blaze.
It is believed a space heater found in the area burned ignited the blaze, Hernandez said. He said the space heater either malfunctioned or was left in the on position.