SANTA CRUZ (KRON) — A suspect has been arrested after a hitchhiking University of California at Santa Cruz student was briefly held against her will early Thursday morning.
Jose Calderon Ortiz, 28, of Watsonville, was arrested at 9 p.m. on Thursday in Watsonville after investigators were able to identify him based on leads, according to the UC Santa Cruz Police Department.
The student was waiting for a bus at the Kresge College stop near Heller and McLaughlin drives around 12:45 a.m. when she caught a ride from a passing driver to campus.
The driver who agreed to give her a lift started a casual conversation with her, but he didn’t stop the car as they approached High Street and Bay Drive, even as she pleaded for him to pull over.
The suspect continued traveling on Bay Drive for another mile before the student got out of the car as the driver slowed down to turn on Mission Street.
The driver fled the scene and the student was left with minor injuries, police said.
Ortiz was booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail and his car has been impounded.