Man Arrested In Violent Crime Spree At Palo Alto, Stanford Mall
PALO ALTO (CBS SF) – Police arrested a 41-year-old man who allegedly committed multiple violent crimes in Palo Alto over the span of just a few hours on Monday.
At 7:11 p.m., police were called with a report of suspicious circumstances at Macy's in the Stanford Shopping Center located at 180 El Camino Real.
According to police, Redwood City resident Javas Debois Minor had groped a female store employee in her 30s. When a security guard tried to contact with the suspect to tell him to leave, Minor allegedly punched him in the jaw and fled.
The guard, a man in his 30s, suffered a cut to his tongue but did not require medical treatment, police said.
When officers were on their way to the scene of the Macy's incident, the 24-hour police dispatch center received a call of a robbery in progress at P.F. Chang's China Bistro, close to the Macy's location.
Minor had entered the restaurant, went into the kitchen claiming he had a gun and started taking food from the restaurant's takeout counter. He threw a plate of food at a male employee in his 20s and threatened to kill him and another employee multiple times, police said.
Minor allegedly held up his fist to the face of a female employee in her 20s, threatening her as well. No employees ever saw the gun Minor claimed to have. He fled the scene southbound prior to the officers' arrival, according to police.
An officer saw Minor at the transit depot at 95 University Ave. and detained him without incident. Police did not locate a gun, and believe Minor lied to P.F. Chang's employees about the possession of one.
Minor tried to kick an officer but missed as they were putting him into a patrol car. When police transported Minor to the police station for a routine arrest processing, he claimed that he couldn't feel his feet because of a medical condition, according to police.
The officers then called on paramedics from the Palo Alto Fire Department to assess his medical condition. Upon their arrival, Minor spat into the face of a male paramedic in his 30s who was attempting to evaluate him, according to police.
Paramedics and officers transported Minor to a hospital where they hoped to obtain medical clearance prior to his incarceration, but Minor attempted to bite a nurse who was treating him and successfully head-butted him.
The nurse, a man in his 30s, suffered minor injuries to his nose and forehead and was treated at the hospital.
Minor was booked into Santa Clara County Main Jail on suspicion of robbery, criminal threats and resisting arrest, as well as four misdemeanor counts of assault and/or battery, police said.
The victim of the sexual battery that took place at the Macy's did not desire to press charges.
Anyone with information about the series of crimes should call Palo Alto police's 24-hour dispatch center at (650) 329-2413.
Tips can be submitted anonymously through email at paloalto@tipnow.org, by texting or leaving a voicemail to (650) 383-8984, or on the department's free mobile app downloadable at bit.ly/PAPD-AppStore or bit.ly/PAPD-GooglePlay.
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