Macy’s Shoplifting Suspect Arrested

<p>Palo Alto police arrested a Macy&&num;8217&semi;s shoplifting suspect on Tuesday morning after she disregarded commands during a car stop before backing her vehicle into a patrol car&comma; crashing her car after fleeing&comma; and then trying to escape on foot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>On Tuesday&comma; April 18&comma; 2023&comma; at about 10&colon;40 a&period;m&period;&comma; the Palo Alto dispatch center received a call from an employee at Macy’s at Stanford Shopping Center at 180 El Camino Real reporting an in-progress shoplift of several pairs of sunglasses&period;  The employee reported that the single suspect had fled in a vehicle&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>At about 10&colon;51 a&period;m&period;&comma; an officer spotted the suspect vehicle &lpar;a black 2007 Honda CRV&rpar; driving in the 2800 block of Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park&period;  The officer made a car stop in a business parking lot nearby and contacted the driver &lpar;and solo occupant&rpar; as she stepped out of her vehicle&period;  After a short conversation&comma; she walked away from the officer and got back into the driver’s seat&period;  The officer gave her multiple commands to stop&comma; all of which she ignored&period;  She then reversed her car&comma; striking the front passenger’s side corner of the patrol vehicle as the officer stood alongside it&period; The suspect then drove forward over a curb&comma; onto a grassy lawn&comma; and sped off at a high rate of speed&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As the officer returned to the patrol car&comma; the officer lost sight of the suspect vehicle briefly and went looking for it&period;  The officer found the suspect vehicle again in a parking lot in the 2900 block of Sand Hill Road&comma; where it sped past the patrol car in the opposite direction&period;  As the officer lost sight of it again and made a U-turn to catch up&comma; the officer saw the vehicle in the distance as it struck a curb in the 2800 block of Sand Hill Road at about 50 miles per hour&comma; rolled over once&comma; and came to rest on its wheels in an embankment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The suspect got out of the car and stood next to it for about a minute as the officer gave her arrest commands&comma; which she ignored&period;  She re-entered the vehicle briefly&comma; and then took off running on foot&period;  The officer gave chase and tackled her in the grass after a short foot pursuit&period;  The suspect resisted arrest by continuing to pull her hands away and attempting to stand up&comma; despite repeated commands to stay on the ground and provide her hands to the officer for handcuffing&period;  Eventually&comma; a male passerby in his thirties came to assist the officer&comma; and once other officers arrived as back-up&comma; police took her into custody without further incident&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The original officer sustained a moderate injury to his arm and was treated and released at a local hospital&period;  Paramedics transported the suspect to a local hospital as a precaution due to the rollover collision and resulting complaints of pain to her neck&comma; back&comma; and hand&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Inside the suspect vehicle&comma; police found nine pairs of stolen sunglasses with a total value of about &dollar;3900&period;  Police returned the stolen merchandise to Macy’s&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Police booked the suspect&comma; 35-year-old Francesca Marie Maufas of San Francisco&comma; into the Santa Clara County Main Jail for four felony charges&colon; assault with a deadly weapon &lpar;for reversing her car in the direction of the officer&rpar;&comma; resisting arrest&comma; reckless evading&comma; and grand theft&period;  Police also booked for her three outstanding warrants &lpar;a felony for grand theft out of San Jose&comma; a misdemeanor for shoplifting &sol; providing false identification to police out of Marin County&comma; and a misdemeanor for theft out of Alameda County&rpar;&period;  Her booking photo appears above&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;