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Palmdale man arrested for slashing tires on patrol car, evading police

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David Morales said he did it because he was "angry with the government," Sheriff's officials said.
David Morales said he did it because he was “angry with the government,” Sheriff’s officials said.

PALMDALE – The vandal who slashed and flattened three tires on a Sheriff’s patrol car in a local Walmart parking lot has been captured, authorities said.

After fleeing deputies this past Friday, David Morales was arrested at his Palmdale home on Monday, Nov. 10. The 22-year-old confessed to vandalizing the patrol car, saying he did it because he was “angry with the government,” according to a press release by the Palmdale Sheriff’s Station. Read it below:

Palmdale Detectives arrested 22-year-old Palmdale resident David Morales for vandalizing a marked patrol car and evading police.

The sequence of events started on Wednesday, October 29, when Morales entered the parking lot of the Westside Walmart in the city of Palmdale.

According to witnesses and video surveillance, Morales parked his vehicle next to an unoccupied, marked patrol vehicle. With a knife in his hand, he exited his white Hyundai Tiburon vehicle and proceeded to walk around the patrol car, stabbing the vehicle tires and flattening three out of the four tires. Morales quickly jumped back into his vehicle and sped away.

Palmdale Station detectives immediately began investigating the incident by using departmental resources and training. Due to Walmart’s video surveillance, Palmdale detectives had a good description of the vehicle and of Morales.

Nine days into the investigation, on Friday, November 7, Morales was spotted traveling northbound on Sierra Highway by an off-duty Palmdale detective. During this time, the detective was able to obtain a license plate and notify Palmdale and Lancaster stations of Morales and his vehicle. A Lancaster patrol unit saw the vehicle and attempted to initiate a traffic stop. Morales failed to stop his vehicle.

Knowing the deputy was behind him, Morales sped his vehicle up to 60 miles per hour, ran a red light and had to swerve to avoid hitting another vehicle on the road. For the safety of the public, the deputy immediately stopped following the vehicle.

On Monday, November 10, at approximately 11:30 a.m., Palmdale Station detectives arrested Morales at his Palmdale Residence. Morales not only confessed to the crime, but stated he committed the crime because he was angry with the government. The knife used in the crime was recovered in the glove box of Morales’ vehicle.

Morales was transported and booked at the Palmdale Sheriff Station. Morales was booked on charges of reckless evading with a bail amount of $75,000 and felony vandalism with a bail amount of $20,000. Morales is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday, November 13, 2014 at the Antelope Valley Courthouse.

Anyone who witnessed this incident or has additional information regarding this incident is encouraged to contact Palmdale Station Detective Luter at 661-272-2472.

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Filed Under: Crime/ Safety

28 comments for "Palmdale man arrested for slashing tires on patrol car, evading police"

  1. Well ” Really” if you would have seen ALL the posts I put you may have noticed that i expressed the fact the I DON’T CONDONE what this man did. I simply stated that maybe he could get help..REAL help instead of just throwing him in jail and forgetting about him. I was saying this in GENERAL.. and thankyou for reading me my rights but I passed 8th grade some time ago and don’t need a recap from someone who doesn’t even read EVERYTHING before putting their two sense in …We should all exercise our rights indeed…which also includes “THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK”

  2. I grew up with David. Went to middle school with him, went to high school with him. He’s not crazy, he doesn’t hold some ulterior motive, he’s just a huge idiot who thought he could do something to impress his friends and get away with it. Either way, he’s screwed now.

  3. Many commenters fail to understand the real danger of what this moron did. Since the driver of the black & white was inside the store on business; can you imagine if the deputy was needed on a “hot call” involving another person, you or your neighbor’s life and needed to drive to get there? What if this suspect is practicing and building his nerve to do a larger scale attack on law enforcement or citizens in your town? People start looking in the grandeur scale of things that happen around you. Stop being juvenile and grow up just a little before commenting. If your a school kid commenting, go find another source of entertainment away from more serious adult subjects.

  4. Lot of effort placed in catching this perp……Perhaps the sheriffs should place effort in improving their harassment tactics in that sector. Yet nothing on the Mcdonalds incident despite stationed police units in that sector (Walmart/Denny’s/Mcdonalds/Stater Brothers/Lowes/ and others)

    (Sort of like) three sheriffs work in tandum with local harasser 9526 and others in this sector. Two sherrifs deputies (tall white male 28-38 + short female 23-29) “that is NOT a cop ( confirms Antelope Valley Times link)…..followed by “stupid……if he leaves…he’s going to jail…….just leave him alone…..(inaudible). Note three squad cars were working in tandum with local harassment units utilizing sophisticated tools with Sheriffs Link. 9655/9554/9526 and other known harssment elements involved.

    • Your really dumb. This happend on the 10th St W Walmart not the crappy one on East side. As for being bothered by people. Your crazy. That Gangstalking stuff doesn’t exist. Police don’t work with thugs to destroy people’s lives. Its all in your head crazy. Stop huffing and puffing from the thugs in your neighborhood and maybe your “paranoia” will end. There is no such thing as police working with local thugs.

      I’m going to report your IP address or have AV Times give me your IP address to the sheriffs and thugs so they can pay you a visit. YOUR A PARANOID LOSER.

    • Your a idiot. This happend on 10th St W. I’m going to ask my neighbor who is a cop and his cop friend to get you. All it takes is a call to AV Times and I’ll get your IP address. They will be more than happy to give me the information.

      Sleep with one eye open loser RAT. You turn against the COPS and you suffer. Your a LOSER sissy.

    • Get a life loser. 9526-9554-Blah Blah Blah mumbo jumbo. So the Fuzz and hood vermin are bothering you. You deserve it. YOU CANT WIN THE POLICE. Thats why your father suffered. NEXT time you Talk about the police, make sure your far away. You keep talking and your ugly children……..BLUE SHIELD owns you and we can do what we want with you. Loser Gay.

  5. If you’re gonna slash tires just man up to it and get arrested because you’re asking for it. but dont be a [removed] and run away. Still should not have done it in the first place. If you are really tired with the government remember THIS COUNTRY NEEDS EVOLUTION NOT REVOLUTION. Renew your mind and your goals because no one gives a [removed] to do it for you.

  6. Did the government take away his rights? Looking at the young man I believe he has more opportune than I. Those tires sure taught the government a lesson… Not. People can be so stupid. When does this survelliance video get compiled to the people of Walmart YouTube Video?

  7. What is the difference between vandalizing our vehicles and a Government vehicle?
    This guy has all these chargers, a warrant for $75,000, and $20,000 bail for flattening three tires?…… Really?……
    On last July, my car and three others got vandalized by a guy while we were attending a party. The guy jumped on my hood, roof, and he dented the hatchback on my car. He also broke three windows on three different cars. When police arrived, the guy was still going crazy… He was arrested.. The detective later asked us for the estimate for repairs on all the cars that were damaged. My estimate was for $2,850.
    Also, Last year my Chrysler Town & Country was hit by another car while we were shopping at the Vallarta store on the East 47th. St. When We went inside the the store to ask the Security personnel if they can check the video for us, they told us we’ll need to have a police report first.
    According to the detective. The guy was released the same day. NO BAIL.. NO WARRANT, and they even had access to the video surveillance from Walmart sstore right on the spot.
    Three tires cost less than $500. Again. What is the difference here?

    • He interfered with the operations of the police by disabling their primary mode of transport.

      Example: A nearby emergency call leads to the lack of a response by this unit which may lead to negative consequences for the client call. Someone could die, be injured, harmed, etc.

      That’s why its serious offense. despite all that needed to rectify it are a couple of tires and a jack. + you cant have the masses believe they have more power than the cops. Future attacks must be deterred. Hence the severe punishment. Police ratio is – 248 cops for 100K. Who is more scared?

  8. Did anyone look further into his recent activities?…from the sounds of it…he could be another radical jihadist sympathizer…if he is willing and able to slash the tires of a patrol car I only wonder who his next target could of been with that knife in hand? Let’s not put blinders on here and not forget about the other cases around the country that have occurred recently such as the attack on the four New York Cops by a radical jihadist and the beheading of a woman. The two things they have in common are the weapons of choice and their disdain for our government and everything this country stands for.

    • Yeah I agree. He even looks like a Jihadi. Or maybe he’s one of those AMISH radicals with the long beards. Either way, he’s a fanatic. Anyone that doesn’t do as told and fights back is a junior terrorist in the making. Like Them Palestineans He needs to learn to respect authority and learn that COPS have big batons and they have to be respected. Sick the dogs and water cannons on anyone that fight the Police. Tap their phones. Raid their homes without warrants. Do what is necessary to make people understand they can’t fight the Police.

      Next these loser thugs will want to fight back like in Ferguson. People have to wake up and stand up for COPS that restrict their rights in order to KEEP them SAFE. After all, people aren’t going to police themselves, THEY NEED DADDY and MOMMY to WATCH over them.

    • I absolutely agree “just wondering” we don’t know his background, nor did the police, Im sure, so lets not forget that we as a public don’t know the people that they( the cops) deal with day in and day out.. they have to be cautious and uphold the laws and boundaries in order to keep us safe.. If they all were assuming that ” EVERYONE JUST HAS PROBLEMS” and that this is the sole reason for anyone ever acting out, we would be in bad shape..there would be criminals and /or terrorist walking about all the streets. My hats off to each and every law enforcement keeping our streets safe and if a criminal needed to be reminded who’s in charge..SO BE IT..THERE HAS TO BE SOME SORT OF DISCIPLINE to follow or else this place would be COMPLETE CHAOS..Keep it up..Law enforcement….YOU DON’T GET PAID NEARLY ENOUGH FOR WHAT YOU DO AND RISK ON A DAILY BASIS FOR THE PUBLIC.(even if there are some unappreciative ones out there…) ALL i CAN SAY ABOUT THE BOZOS is SIMPLY ‘every village has an idiot..and they just happen to be ours.

    • easier said than done J.. are you gonna pay the expenses for him to move? I didnt think so… you nor i nor anyone but himself know what hes been through or what led up to his lashing out… maybe the problem is stereotypical people like yourself only looing at one point of view. if it were you..i bet you would feel quite different if someone passed judgement against you.

        • Let me also clarify that I am not condoning this behavior nor am i justifying his actions..I am merely suggesting that maybe we should take the time and find out whats really going on and see his reasoning and get him some help.. throwing him in jail and that’s all is just going to add gas to hid already burning flame of negative feelings for the government.

          • Is it Ms. Educated or Ms. Liberal?

            Let’s tell this guy it’s okay you slashed some tires. We understand you were up set. Now here is your knife and have a good day.

            No. The dude has issues. He is a threat to the general public, you might have noted that was mentioned in the article when they first tried to pursue him, and he should be treated as such.

            As individuals we did get angry with things are government does, as Americans we have the right to be upset, we have the right to protest and we have a right to try and have our voices heard. What we don’t have the right to do is commit vandalism, and if he is willing to do it to the cops isn’t he even more of a threat, and trying to evade arrest by endangering the general public.

            Wake up, stop hugging that tree, and hold people accountable for their actions.