Sunnyvale police have arrested a local man for assaulting a teen, hitting him with the broad side of a machete.
On the evening of Sept. 20, Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (DPS) located and arrested 36-year-old Daniel Lopez-Preciado in his hometown of San Jose.
DPS responded to a call near Central and Lincoln avenues on the report of a violent confrontation between an adult and three teenagers on Sept. 19.
Paige Johnson, the public information officer for DPS, wrote in an email that, according to the victim, around 4 p.m. the kids, all 17, were riding in the bicycle lane when the driver of a Nissan SUV behind them started honking.
To allow the driver to pass, the teens then moved to the sidewalk, but the driver followed them, Johnson wrote.
When the driver exited the SUV, the teens got off their bikes and saw that the man was holding a machete. Johnson wrote that police were unclear why Lopez-Preciado was allegedly carrying the machete, which has an 18-inch blade.
Lopez-Preciado then allegedly struck one of the teens on the forehead with the flat of the machete’s blade. Following the alleged assault, Lopez-Preciado got back into his SUV and drove off, according to police.
With the use of automatic license plate readers (ALPR) cameras, DPS was able to identify Lopez-Preciado and located and arrested him the next day.
Police arrested Lopez-Preciado on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and child abuse.
Both charges are “wobblers.” Such crimes are ones that California prosecutors can charge as either a misdemeanor or a felony, depending on the facts of the case and the defendant’s record.
The assault charge carries with it two, three or four years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine. The child abuse charge carries with it up to a year in county jail, or two, four, or six years in prison, with an added term for a prior conviction.
The victim’s injuries were minimal and did not require medical attention. The other teens were unharmed.
Police booked Lopez-Preciado into the Santa Clara County Jail, 150 W. Hedding St. in San Jose.
Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com
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