Yuba City man suspected of stealing truck

A Yuba City man was arrested late Monday morning for stealing a vehicle from the parking lot of a truck customizing shop. The thief's ride was a short one, according to police and the shop's owner.

Brent Swartz, owner of Twin Cities Off Road & Performance on Colusa Avenue, said he was talking to a customer inside his shop at about 11:15 a.m., when he heard a truck start up in the parking lot, just a few feet away.

"Then I saw it barreling down the wrong way on Colusa," Swartz said.

He asked his customer if he had brought a friend. He had not.

"I said, 'Dude, your truck just got stolen,'" Swartz recalled.

Within seconds, he was describing the incident in real time to police on the phone.

The suspect, Brandon Vanocker, 23, turned south onto Cooper.

A police officer in a patrol car spotted the truck at Forbes and Cooper, and briefly gave chase west, then north on Clark — just a few blocks from where he began — according to Yuba City police spokeswoman, Shawna Pavey.

The driver turned onto Louise Avenue, "then he jumped out and ran," said Pavey.

"That dumb--- jumped out and started running back toward my area," Swartz said.

At Rosalind and Cooper, within sight of where the truck had been stolen, K9 dogs were released, and the suspect appeared on the roof of a dental lab near the back of Swartz's shop.

"He was running around up there for quite a while. It was comical," he said.

A passenger, who remained in the stolen vehicle, was not identified by police.

Vanocker was arrested and booked into Sutter County Jail.

"He sure didn't make it very far. I watched the whole thing right here in front of my window," Swartz said.

CONTACT Nancy Pasternack at npasternack@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4781. Find her on Facebook at /ADnpasternack or on Twitter at @ADnpasternack.