On April 27, 2023 at 9:11AM, Oakley Police Department Officers B. Jackson and A. Hurtado were on patrol in the area of Main Street at Neroly Road when they saw a white Saturn vehicle being driven in a reckless and haphazard manner.
Officers Jackson and Hurtado attempted to stop the vehicle but the driver fled from them and lead them on a pursuit. The pursuit went into the City of Antioch via Laurel Road. The driver briefly yielded at the intersection of Laurel Road and Canada Valley only to take off again. The driver then took several routes through the City of Antioch with Officers Jackson and Hurtado being joined by Officer Radcliffe and his canine partner “Harkon”.
Eventually the driver ended up driving down Fulton Shipyard Road to the dead end. The driver attempted to drive beyond what is typically able to be navigated at the end of the road, but then he came to a stop. The driver also open his door and showed signs he was getting ready to run from our officers.
The driver however opted to surrender and comply at that point and he was taken into custody. The driver was identified as Matthew Quiroz (Antioch, 36).
Further investigation revealed the vehicle Quiroz was driving had been reported as stolen from the City of Martinez earlier in the day.
Police investigators began arriving at the scene and recognized the name of Quiroz as being wanted for a carjacking that occurred in Oakley on February 22, 2023.
In that case Quiroz was picked up by a female door dash driver and they made several deliveries together. At one point Quiroz told the female driver to drive to Vallejo so she could work for him as a prostitute, Quiroz told the female driver he would kill her if she did not cooperate. The female driver feared for her life so she drove to the end of Walnut Grove Court, in Oakley, and fled the vehicle. Quiroz then jumped into the drivers seat of the vehicle and drove away in it. The vehicle was later found unoccupied in Pleasant Hill. The vehicle was towed to the Oakley Police Department for forensic evidence processing.
In that case Oakley Police were able to identify Quiroz as the suspect of the carjacking via DNA testing and results.
Quiroz was booked into jail for being in possession of a stolen vehicle and for leading our officers on a pursuit.
“Matthew Quiroz has been arrested five times so far in 2023. It appears as if Quiroz was released from jail (in Martinez) this morning, for the crime he committed yesterday, and quite possibly the first thing he did was steal a car to come to Oakley. The following constitutes Quiroz’ known criminal activities in 2023:
- February 8, 2023- arrested for being under the influence of drugs and unable to care for himself (Brentwood PD)
- February 22, 2023- identified as the suspect in a carjacking involving threats of harm and death (Oakley PD)
- March 5, 2023- arrested for robbery, terrorist threats, false imprisonment and probation violation (Antioch PD)
- April 15, 2023- arrested for being drunk in public and unable to care for himself (Antioch PD)
- April 26, 2023- arrested for lewd conduct and theft (Antioch PD)
- April 27, 2023- arrested for evading officers and being in possession of a stolen vehicle (Oakley PD)
I suspect some people will look at the pattern of Quiroz’ activities and come to the conclusion many of his offenses have been “victimless crimes”. What I see however, is a strong pattern of criminal activity. We are barely past one quarter of 2023 and Quiroz has been arrested more times in this quarter than most readers of this article have been in their whole lives. When I consider the fact pattern of our carjacking case in February, the fact Quiroz was arrested for robbery and false imprisonment in March, and when I consider the lives Quiroz placed at risk during today’s pursuit I see many opportunities for his actions to create a great number of victims, so I am not apt to equate no harm to no foul. These crimes (fouls) did occur and there are victims associated to them.
Are you tired of the consistent pattern of crimes that occur time and time again? Are you tired of the more violent society we have? Are you tired of organized retail thefts when you spend your time working hard to pay for everything you need? If you answered ‘yes’ to all three of these questions I am in complete agreement with you. We need better legislation. We need legislation that would work for the people to undo the damage AB 109, Prop 47 and Prop 57 have done and we need to return necessary tools back to prosecutors, and the criminal justice system as a whole, in order to establish much more accountability for criminal behavior and a much greater degree of safety for society. Until then I will continue to appreciate and rely on the police officers of the Oakley Police Department, and the region as a whole, to keep doing what they do to keep the public safe.
Stay safe everybody.”
~Chief Paul Beard
6 comments
Chief Beard nails it. No way a guy with an arrest record like that should be released over and over again. What we are seeing is the result of 20+ years of “progressive government” by California’s liberal-left wing, which just can’t bring itself to admit that its policies don’t work. Compounding that is a criminal justice system with more holes in it than a sieve.
The progressive left’s only remedy when confronted with the failure of it’s policies is to call for more of the same. It won’t change until and unless voters “throw the bums out.”
This punk should not have bail and we should reinstate those laws that help our LE! This is crazy!
Who in the world thinks these are victimless crimes. Lock this guy up.
I’m in complete agreement with Chief Beard. The Police are continuing to arrest the criminals, but then the DA’S are not able to or won’t prosecute the case, putting them back on the streets. We have to many lax laws that have been passed by liberal Legislators and voters who didn’t really see what the outcome would be. Now we need someone who has a backbone to write the legislation to reverse those laws a strengthen the policies so when the Police make an arrest, the DA will prosecute the criminal!
The spawning of Antioch in Oakley has started.
They need to keep him locked up and throw away the key. He’s demonstrated a strong desire and is begging for permanent state sponsored accommodations. Give them to him.
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