Crime in California

Truckee police say a 49-year-old man from Coalinga, California, intentionally drove a pickup into pedestrians and the front of a Safeway grocery store in the mountain town Saturday afternoon, injuring four people including children. Officers reported that none of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening, but witnesses described a chaotic scene as a youth baseball team fundraising outside the entrance scattered and parents frantically searched for their kids. One shopper told reporters the driver remained "calmly" sitting in the locked vehicle as bystanders screamed at him and tried to open the doors until police arrived within minutes and took him into custody. The suspect has been booked into the Nevada County jail on charges including assault with a deadly weapon, felony vandalism and probation violation, and investigators say they currently believe the crash was deliberate. The episode adds to a string of recent vehicle-into-pedestrian and vehicle-into-building incidents in California, raising renewed questions about security around busy store entrances and how local authorities classify and prosecute intentional rammings.