SANTA CRUZ, Calif. --
Two longtime Santa Cruz criminals are on the run after hitting and dragging a police officer with a stolen truck, police said Thursday.
At 10 p.m. Wednesday, a Santa Cruz Police Department officer pulled over a suspicious truck in a residential neighborhood on the 200 block of Jackson Street in Santa Cruz. The green Dodge Dakota had paper dealership plates and the real license plates had been removed, SCPD spokesman Zach Friend said.
The 37-year-old officer questioned the 37-year-old driver, Ryan Mang, and his passenger, Shivhan Armstrong, Friend said.
Just as the officer was receiving information from 911 dispatchers that the truck was stolen, Mang turned on the engine and began pulling away, Friend said.
The officer, who was standing at the driver’s door, and was hit and dragged more than 30 feet. He was eventually thrown from the side of the truck and narrowly escaped being run over, police said.
The injured officer was transported to Dominican Hospital with moderate injuries.
Investigators said they soon found the stolen truck abandoned on Isbel Court. The truck had heroin and stolen property stashed inside, Friend said.
Witnesses told police that Mang and Armstrong were picked up by someone driving a car and they ditched the truck.
"Both Mr. Mang and Ms. Armstrong have extensive local criminal histories," police said. They are wanted on charges of assaulting a police officer.
Anyone with information on this incident is urged to call the Santa Cruz Police Department at 831-420-5820.
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