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Palo Alto police officers used a Taser stun gun and police dogs to subdue a man that tried to evade arrest Wednesday morning after an alleged auto burglary, a police sergeant said.
A resident at the Boardwalk Park Place Apartments, located at 3833 Park Boulevard, called 911 at about 3 a.m. to report an auto burglary in process, Sgt. Wayne Benitez said.
Officers responded and saw the individual, but he started running away, so police established perimeters to find him, Benitez said.
Within an hour, the suspect was found on a roof of a house, Benitez said. He started jumping from one roof to another and eventually fell through the roof of a carport.
Police K-9 dogs found the suspect after a yard-to-yard search, but he put up a fight and tried choking the dogs, Benitez said. A K-9 dog bit the suspect and one officer used a Taser stun gun on him. After a five-minute showdown, four officers managed to subdue the suspect, Benitez said. The officers sustained minor injuries.
The man was identified as Ronald Joseph Costa, 42, of Hayward. He was transported to Stanford Hospital, where he is recovering. He claims he does not recall the incident, Benitez said. It is possible he was under the influence of either the drugs Phencyclidine, also known as PCP, or methamphetamine, he said.
Police recovered a stolen car across the street from the apartment complex that contained several burglary tools and stolen license plates out of Alameda County. Benitez said numerous cars with smashed windows were found nearby on Park Boulevard and Ventura Avenue.
Costa was “paper booked” into Santa Clara County jail, meaning he is technically an inmate but not in the jail due to his hospitalization. He was booked on several felony charges, among them auto burglary, attempted auto theft, resisting arrest, assault on a police dog and officers, possession of burglary tools, and prowling, according to Detective Rich Bullerjahn.
Bullerjahn said the charge of assaulting a police dog stemmed from Costa allegedly choking and hitting a dog on the nose as it had taken hold of his arm.
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Crazy. It would be pretty scary to have to catch a guy like that. This is one of those times that reminds us how lucky we are to have such great cops in Palo Alto. That dog deserves a nice big steak.
Steak for the dog would be nice, but for a well trained police dog, the reward is getting the perp!
Retrievers love the retrieve, terriers love to dig–police dogs love the chase. They are herding dogs. Finding the drug stash is a reward for them as well if they have been trained that way.
The story did not mention that numerous cars with their locks punched or drilled out were found on Ventura Ave and on Park Blvd. My car was one of those as were two of my neighbors. My thanks to the Palo Alto Police Dept. and most especially to the neighbor who called 911 at 3 am.
Thanks, PAPD. Did they check to see if Costa is legally in the U.S? Are they allowed to?
Meth is scary. I have an acquaintance who had to fight someone on meth once and even a frying pan to the head wouldn’t stop him.
is he related to ex palo alto cop john costa. shall we check john costa’s ”papers”?
Good job PA PAPD.
This is a good example of why police prefer to use a taser rather than a gun. A gun would probably have stopped him with less harm to the police officers, but it is messy. It can either kill or badly cripple a suspect. I admire the officers’ restraint and give a warm pat on the head to the dogs.
I would love to see Arum and all his Taser hating cronies fight a suspect like the cops did. I bet they would wish they had a thousand tasers.
“Bullerjahn said the charge of assaulting a police dog stemmed from Costa allegedly choking and hitting a dog on the nose as it had taken hold of his arm.”
Very carefully put: “taken hold of his arm.” Was that to support him as he hobbled to the police car? Be more honest: The police must have commanded the dog to bite the man, and he defended himself against being bitten, so they are charging him for assault.
Somebody needs to Tase oh really
Well done to the dog, and good use of a taser instead of a gun.
Well done PAPD.
I wish police would use dogs more often. They are very effective. Actually, why don’t police use trained dogs more often?
If you don’t want to be tasered, comply with police orders. I suppose, however, that that is too complicated an idea for criminals to grasp.
I think it is utterly appalling that someone is sticking up for a man that clearly was a danger to not only himself, but numerous others. The article was written to inform the region about an outstanding member of society who called the police on a CRIMINAL who deserves jail time for all of his burglary tools, stolen license plates, running from the police, assault, etc.
My extreme gratitude goes out to the person who called the police… who essentially got this CROOK off the streets!!!
Thank you Palo Alto police! This is a reminder of the dangerous work you do, and we really appreciate it. Your dog deserves a reward too. Kudos to the person who called this in.
Police dogs often grasp the arm of the subject and hold them in place that way until officers place the subject under arrest. Depending on the dog, the subject’s resistance, the subject’s clothing, the subject may or may not have injuries sustained from this hold.
Cops don’t command dogs to “bite” subjects. The role of the dog is to help capture and hold in place the subject, not attack the subject.
To,
“Police dogs often grasp the arm of the subject” Grasp, eh? Probably a lot like “taking hold.” Be honest: The dog bit the guy at the command of the police.
” the subject may or may not have injuries sustained from this hold.” In plain language: The guy is wounded because the police commanded the dog to bite him.
You don’t get it. The police may have commanded the dog to grab the guy, not bite him. The point is to hold the subject in place so that they can be arrested. I suggest you do some research on how police dogs are worked, they training they receive and what their range of duties are.
To,
What I get is the difference between propaganda and reality.
The police told the dog to grab the guy but not bite him. Hmm, that’s a linguistically savvy dog.
But seriously, let me put it this way. Dogs do not have hands. If a dog “grabs you,” it has to “grab” you with its mouth. This is also called biting. Let’s have a little truth not spin.
Personally, I am sorry that the police and the dog were injured. Too bad they had to use the lesser force of the taser. I applaud their restraint, but we now we will have one more criminal and meth addict whom we will have to use taxpayers’ funds to try and possibly house in prison. Perhaps a ramped up use of capital punishment would help discourage such addicts/burglars and we could use funds now allocatd to “house” these individuals for education.
Concerned,
Good idea.
On top of that, I believe that the body metabolizes meth, so you could render the executed guy’s flesh into dog meat for the police dogs without any fear of doing harm to the animal. They could probably also grind the bones for you to use as fertilizer when you plant new bushes at your house.
i was in jail with him, as unbelievable as it might be he was one of the coolest guys in there.