DAVENPORT, Iowa — A man intentionally ramming vehicles hit one so hard that it was shoved into a house, causing structural damage.
It happened in the 1400 block of West 7th Street, where a frightened driver had asked to meet her dad because 37-year-old John Garcia was following her, according to a police report. At their meeting place, Garcia rammed her vehicle “at a high rate of speed,” backed up and ran into it again.
Police said she then took off westbound on West 7th Street to get away from Garcia.
Garcia then rammed into the dad’s vehicle three or four times, the police report says, backing up and “driving forward at full speed each time.”
The last hit sent the dad’s vehicle into the front of a home in the 1400 block of West 7th Street, which sustained structural damage in the hit. The vehicle then hit a fence at a neighboring home; the dad’s vehicle was totaled.
Authorities got word that there was a disturbance in the area shortly before 8:30 p.m., but Garcia took off before police got there, according to the report. He was later found at his house and was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
There were no other injuries reported.
Damage to both vehicles, the house, and the fence was estimated to be more than $10,000.
Police said the driver initially saw Garcia following her as she was leaving her aunt’s house. The report indicated that the driver and Garcia knew each other.
“During this incident, the defendant drove his vehicle in a manner which clearly indicated a willful and wanton disregard for the safety of the victim and her father, as well as the safety of the pedestrians and residents of the 1400 block of West 7th Street,” read the police report.
Garcia was charged with criminal mischief, assault with a deadly weapon, harassment, reckless driving, and operating while intoxicated. Jail records show that he was booked into the Scott County Jail shortly after midnight on Thursday, and spent a little over 10 hours there before he bonded out.
