Santa Clara police shoot, wound man after car chase

His family insists that he bought the truck; police say it was stolen

SAN JOSE >> Santa Clara police shot and wounded a man following a high-speed chase that ended in West San Jose early Sunday, authorities said.

The suspect, who family identified as 38-year-old Manuel Gabriel Rico, was being pursued by Santa Clara officers who determined his pickup truck was reported stolen, according to San Jose police.

Rico, a San Jose resident, was hospitalized at Valley Medical Center in San Jose for injuries that police said were not life threatening.

Rico’s mother, Elizabeth Martinez, said she and her family are still gathering details about the circumstances of the shooting, but insisted Sunday that Rico bought the truck in question within the past two weeks and had the pink slip from the purchase.

According to San Jose police, the shooting occurred around 5:20 a.m. near Mayellen Avenue and Scott Street, about a half-mile northeast of San Jose City College.

Additional details about what led to the shooting were not immediately released by the San Jose Police Department, which is investigating the case because it occurred within San Jose city limits. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office is monitoring that investigation, which is protocol after any officer-involved shooting in the county.

Santa Clara police referred inquiries about the shooting to SJPD.

Martinez said in the moments prior to being pursued

“He has the pink slip for the truck. Today he was not doing anything wrong. He was scared.” — Elizabeth Martinez, mother of wounded man

by Santa Clara police, her son had just visited a 7-Eleven store on Winchester Boulevard near Williams Road.

She said her son, who worked in construction, may have panicked and was wary of law enforcement. That’s because of his time as a reputed gang member and due to a high-profile

confrontation two years ago in Modesto, Martinez said.

While Rico was a Stanislaus County jail inmate in Modesto, authorities say he was injured after falling down an elevator shaft while fighting jail deputies. Martinez has challenged that account, alleging her son was shackled and ended up down the elevator shaft because of deputies’ rough treatment.

Rico filed a civil rights complaint last year regarding the July 15, 2016 incident, in which he contended his erratic behavior that attracted deputies’ attention was from “unknowingly” ingesting meth while in custody. The complaint, which faulted the Sheriff’s

Department, elevator manufacturer and hospital that treated him, was dismissed this past January for procedural reasons, with a judge citing Rico’s “failing to keep his address of record updated,” according to federal court records.

Martinez was scrambling to piece together what happened to her son Sunday.

“I haven’t been allowed to see him, and have not been allowed to talk to him,” Martinez said late Sunday afternoon. “He has the pink slip for the truck. Today he was not doing anything wrong. He was scared.”