Man in Southern California was taken to the hospital after a suspect stole a coffee cart and led police on a wild chase.
A man who was hospitalized after a suspect stole his coffee cart with him inside and led police on a crazy chase through several counties remembers how scary it was.
37-year-old Derek Strano said, “I thought I was going to die.”
There was a suspect, Liam Preston Yanez, 28, who jumped into a pickup truck in Moorpark on July 16. The truck was pulling a coffee service trailer.
Someone was still in the coffee cart, and Strano didn’t know it. Strano had gone inside the cart to make a drink for a family member who had just gotten home from surgery.
When the truck took off, Strano was thrown into a violent, crazy ride through Ventura and Los Angeles counties as police chased the stolen truck.
StrĂ¡no remembered, “I could feel the truck moving, and I had been in there for two minutes.” “I thought the parking brake was off, but the truck drove right through the fence.” “It was hell.”
On the video of the chase, the suspect’s car was going all over the place, and the coffee cart was following closely behind it.
Strano grabbed a sink inside the coffee cart as the chase got more crazy and held on for dear life. Strano could not hold on for much longer.
Strano said, “He turned, and the side door was ripped off. I flew out of it when he turned.”
After the suspect’s pickup truck hit the Heartfelt Education through the Arts Center building in North Hollywood, the coffee cart flipped over.
Strano was taken to the hospital with major injuries after what happened. He was in a lot of pain after what happened and couldn’t move around as easily.
Strano also said that he has been having dreams and memories of the night of the crash.
Yanez, the suspect, was nabbed on several felony charges, including illegally driving or taking a car and receiving stolen goods. He is being held on $20,000 bail.
Strano, on the other hand, thinks those fines are too low for the harm done.
“None of his charges are related to my injuries,” Strano said. “I don’t see my name in the report.” It got to me even though I was just an employee and a help.
Strano is currently focused on getting better and is going to physical treatment. He also said that he might think about going to therapy.
Click here to go to a GoFundMe page that asks people to help Strano pay his hospital bills.