San Jose Man Arrested For Allegedly Running Over Woman During Dispute Over Massage Payment
PALO ALTO (CBS SF) -- A 31-year-old San Jose man was in custody after he allegedly ran over a woman while disputing a bill for a massage at a Palo Alto spa.
Palo Alto police said Juan Carlos Valdivia has been booked into Santa Clara County Jail for the violent September 24th confrontation.
Officers responded to a report of a vehicle-pedestrian collision in the 3400 block of El Camino Real at about 11:33 a.m. They discovered a woman in her forties, sitting in the roadway, suffering from serious injuries. She was taken to the hospital with multiple broken bones and was in stable condition in the hospital on Friday.
The investigation has revealed that the woman is an employee at a nearby spa and massage business. Valdivia was a patron of the business and after receiving a massage went to the cashier to pay. The suspect and victim then got into a dispute over Valdivia's credit card receipt not reflecting the tip amount he had added.
Valdivia allegedly took both copies of the receipt -- his own and the merchant's copy -- and walked out.
The unidentified woman followed him and called her supervisor on her cell phone. As Valdivia got into his car, the woman attempted to take the merchant's copy of the receipt from him. Valdivia allegedly tried to take her phone as he began to drive away.
In the struggle over the phone, the woman fell and the rear wheels of Valdivia's vehicle ran over her as he fled the scene.
Detectives were able to identify Valdivia as the suspect and got an arrest warrant for three felonies -- assault with a deadly weapon, robbery, and hit-and-run causing injury.
He was taken into custody without incident in South San Francisco.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call our 24-hour dispatch center at
(650) 329-2413. Anonymous tips can be e-mailed to paloalto@tipnow.org or sent via text
message or voice mail to (650) 383-8984.