Jul 15, 2008

Attempted Wal-Mart beating leads to arrest

By Kristina Peterson / Daily News Staff Writer

Mountain View police arrested a teenager who allegedly attempted to beat a man with a baseball bat in a Wal-Mart parking lot Sunday, police said.

Police arrested East Palo Alto resident Luis Amaya, 18, on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, police spokeswoman Liz Wylie said Monday.

Shortly after 9 p.m. Sunday, Amaya ran into an acquaintance in the parking lot of the Mountain View Wal-Mart. The two men got into an argument over past events and Amaya retrieved a baseball bat from his car, Wylie said.

Amaya swung the bat at the man, who was seated in his own car. Though Amaya missed him, he did break a window, Wylie said.

Amaya then fled the scene in a car with two other men. After the victim, a Mountain View resident, called police to report the incident, an officer saw Amaya's vehicle on San Antonio Road. The officer stopped the car near the intersection of Embarcadero Road and Highway 101 and arrested Amaya.

The man driving the getaway vehicle, East Palo Alto resident Omar Avila, 21, was arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting a crime, Wylie said.



E-mail Kristina Peterson at kpeterson@dailynewsgroup.com.