Two men arrested in Coachella stolen car case

Two men in a stolen car were arrested in Coachella after a brief chase that started when the vehicle’s registered owner spotted it and called authorities, police said today.
The owner of the car, which was reported stolen Thursday morning, spotted it around 3:30 p.m. Thursday on Indio Boulevard, heading toward Grapefruit Boulevard, in Coachella, said Ben Guitron of the Indio Police Department.
He called police and followed the suspects to a supermarket parking off Grapefruit, where officers from the Indio police Special Enforcement Team responded and attempted to make a traffic stop, Guitron said.
At the end of the ensuing chase, the car pulled into a parking lot at Westerfield and Sunset streets and the driver and passenger got out and fled on foot, he said.
The driver, Manuel Guerra, 43, of Indio, was quickly apprehended, Guitron said, and the passenger, Oscar Rivas, 24, of Mecca, was later found in the backyard of a home, hiding under the cover of a spa.
Rivas was allegedly seen with a handgun as he fled, but no weapon was recovered, he said.
Both men were booked into the Riverside County Jail in Indio — Guerra on suspicion of possession of a stolen car, possession of stolen property, failure to yield to an officer and hit and run, and Rivas on suspicion of drug violations and evading arrest, according to Guitron. They were being held without bail pending court appearances, according to sheriff’s online booking records.