You know what's probably not the best thing for someone on probation with priors for narcotic and theft related offenses to do? Nearly drag a cop through the streets of Tustin … with a toddler in your car.
That's what 29-year-old Santa Ana resident Tatiana Nguyen is accused of doing just after midnight Wednesday.
She had been pulled over for vehicle code violations around 12:05 a.m. near Irvine Boulevard and Plaza Drive, according to Sgt. Andrew Birozy of the Tustin Police Department. As the officers were speaking to her, she drove off, nearly dragging one of the cops with her, Birozy says.
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Because there was a small toddler in the car, police ended a chase after about a minute. But the subsequent investigation by officers led them to Santa Ana several hours later, when Nguyen was arrested without incident for alleged child endangerment and evading, Birozy says.
Mom went to Orange County Jail for booking and her little one went to Orangewood Children's Home for lodging, the sergeant adds.
According to the Orange County Register:
Nguyen pleaded guilty in August 2011 to second-degree burglary, grand theft and acts constituting forgery, all felonies. She was sentenced to 60 days in jail and five years probation, according to Orange County court records.
She also pleaded guilty to falsely representing herself to an officer and failing to appear in court, both misdemeanors in 2005, as well as misdemeanor trespassing in 2011.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.