Fleeing suspect arrested at Sonoma Stompers game

A suspect in a Plaza altercation was chased into Arnold Field, where he was arrested before Stompers fans.|

A man who deputies thought was part of a mob that scuffled in the Sonoma Plaza ended up going to jail anyway when he took off running.

Deputies were called to a fight in the Plaza shortly before 9 p.m. on Tuesday, June 26. Two groups – one with 20 to 30 people and the other with 15 to 20 people – had squared off after one person brandished a knife and another person was throwing firecrackers.

While deputies were trying to separate the combatants, another deputy who came to the scene went to the Casa Grande parking lot to see if there were any stragglers there. After the deputy got out of his car to check out one group, one of the men took off running through Depot Park and into the Sonoma Stompers baseball game, with the deputy in full pursuit.

As the man was running through the park, PA announcer Trey Dunia hit the song, “Bad Boys.”

“For the past six years I have had the theme from ‘Cops’ ready to go for an incident like this – I figured it would happen at some point,” said Dunia. “I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to have some fun.” The fleeing suspect was tackled by a concessionaire who held him for the deputy.

As the deputy escorted the handcuffed man out of the game, the PA was playing the song “I Fought the Law” by the Clash.

It turns out, the fleeing miscreant wasn’t a part of the groups who squared off in the Plaza. The reason he ran was because he had two warrants from Marin County. Jeffrey Diaz-Arreaga, 24, from San Rafael, was arrested on the two warrants, a probation violation, obstructing and resisting and a felony parole violation.

One of the would-be combatants, a 19-year-old Sonoma man, was also arrested on charges of challenge to a fight in a public place.

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