2 Men Arrested, 4 Sent to Hospital in Road Rage Incident

Two Napa men were arrested early Sunday and four were hospitalized after a fight that police said began as a road rage incident.

Rafael Deharo Jr., 19, and Cesar Ortiz, 23, were arrested after the incident on Highway 29 at 1:12 a.m. Sunday.

Police said that officers responded to a report of a fight with pipes and shovels  on Griggs Lane.  The fight was a result of a road rage incident between the driver of a gold sedan and a driver of a white pick-up truck that ended on Griggs Lane. 

 Dispatch advised of a vehicle leaving the Griggs Lane area.  It was described as being a gold sedan which had just left eastbound on Laurel Street. Other associated subjects possibly entered an unknown residence nearby on Griggs Lane

Officers located and stopped the vehicle at the Factory Stores.  The vehicle was occupied by four subjects: Rafael Deharo Jr., 19 of Napa; Omar Lopez, 20 of Napa; Jason Areas, 18 of Napa; and Rene Vasquez, 22 of Napa.

Deharo and Vasquez had major injuries and were transported to Queen of the Valley Medical Center by ambulance.

Other officers responded to Griggs Lane and located the scene but no one was around.  Glass, a golf club and multiple blood spatters were located in the street. 

An area check resulted in four subjects being found: Ignacio Moreno, 21 of Napa; Jose Sanchez Roque, 21 of Napa; Cesar Ortiz, 23 of Napa; and Estanislao Navarro Ochoa, 24 of American Canyon.

 All subjects were located in/or about a residence on Griggs Lane.

It was determined a road rage incident on SR 29 had occurred, where the driver, Deharo, of the gold vehicle and the driver (unknown person) of the white truck were racing northbound on SR 29.

Both drivers were cutting each other off as they proceeded up the highway. An occupant of the white truck threw a bottle at the gold sedan.

This action caused the occupants of the gold sedan to become angry and chase the white truck. The pursuit ended in the 10 block of Griggs Lane, where occupants of both vehicles exited their respective vehicles and began to fight.  During the fight, a golf club was used to strike Ochoa, Deharo and Vasquez. 

Ortiz was allegedly identified as hitting Vasquez in the head with a golf club. Ortiz allegedly originally provided a false name to officers. Ortiz was booked at Napa County Department of Corrections on suspicion of battery, felony use of force and false ID.

Charges for others are pending the district attorney’s office review.

Ochoa later self-admitted to Queen of the Valley Medical Center and was later transported to Santa Rosa Memorial with a head injury and laceration to the head. Deharo was admitted to Queen of the Valley Medical Center with a broken jaw/lacerations and was awaiting surgery.

Vasquez was admitted to Queen of the Valley Medical Center with a brain hemorrhage and underwent emergency surgery.   Vasquez is in Queen of the Valley Medical Center’s ICU in stable condition. 

No further information on status of injuries.

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