A 42-year-old Rancho Cordova man was arrested Friday evening after he led authorities on a pursuit while chasing a social worker who had taken his children into protective custody, according to authorities.
The pursuit came two days after Joseph Angel Rodriguez's first arrest this week. On Wednesday afternoon, Sacramento County sheriff's deputies arrested Rodriguez, pictured at left, on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after he allegedly hit his 19-year-old son with a baseball bat during an argument, said sheriff's spokesman Deputy Jason Ramos.
On Friday, a Child Protective Services case worker went to Rodriguez's home on Mills Acres Circle in Rancho Cordova to take his other children into protective custody, based on Wednesday's incident, Ramos said. Deputies accompanied the CPS worker, as is standard for such calls.
Nobody was inside the home, but while deputies and the case worker were there, four of Rodriguez's children walked up, Ramos said. As the case worker was putting the kids in a car, Rodriguez drove up, left his car running in the street and began arguing with authorities, Ramos said.
As the case worker left, Rodriguez ran to his car and sped after the case worker's car. Deputies followed suit, Ramos said.
That led to a pursuit west on Highway 50, finally ending at Broadway and Stockton Boulevard, where deputies stopped Rodriguez's car with an intervention technique, Ramos said.
Deputies arrested Rodriguez on suspicion of three felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer because he drove his car at deputies during parts of the chase, Ramos said. He also faces felony charges of evasion and committing a crime while being out on bail.
He is being held at the Sacramento County Main Jail in lieu of $325,000 bail.
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