WATSONVILLE—Thanks to an alert citizen, a suspect is now in custody less than 24 hours after he reportedly snatched a woman’s purse.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were dispatched to a reported robbery on the 100 block of Seacliff Drive around 4:15pm Tuesday.
The male suspect, later identified as Bryan Palacios Zapien, 20, was captured in a video approaching an elderly woman sitting on a bench. In the video, Zapien sneaks up on the woman, grabs her purse and runs away.
He was seen getting into what is believed to be a 2002 gold Infinity or similar 4-door sedan with tinted windows. He reportedly drove southbound on Seacliff Drive.
On Wednesday morning around 8am a citizen called 911 to report seeing a suspect matching Zapien’s description parking a similar car on Brennan Street.
As Watsonville Police approached the area Zapien took off on foot. He ran down Brennan Street to East Fifth Street where police caught up with him and took him into custody, said Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Ashley Keehn.
Sheriff’s Office detectives located some of the victim’s stolen belongings while searching Zapien and the vehicle. They also found the clothing the suspect was wearing during Tuesday’s incident.
Zapien was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail for various charges.
The arrest comes just a year after Zapien was taken into custody after he reportedly tried to break into a vehicle and then led WPD officers on a high-speed chase.
In that incident, Zapien started banging on the window of an occupied car at the ARCO gas station at the intersection of Green Valley and Holohan roads. The victim told police that Zapien was armed with a gun.
Zapien then sped off in a 2016 VW Jetta and led police in a brief chase. The officers caught up with him at the Crystal Laundromat on Freedom Boulevard where he was taken into custody at Taser point.
Zapien was charged with brandishing a weapon, making threats, trying to bribe an officer, threatening to kill an officer and resisting arrest.
A year earlier, Zapien was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence.
Anyone with information about this case is asked to call 831-454-7096 or 831-471-1121.
