Roseville, Calif.- At about 5:30 p.m. Thursday, a 22-year-old Roseville woman drove her sedan north on Washington Boulevard and prepared to turn left onto Sawtell Drive. She said that then a Ford pickup cut into her lane in front of her, nearly causing a collision. She honked her horn at the pickup driver, and then she and the pickup driver exchanged angry gestures.
The young woman’s father, Francisco Javier Diaz, was driving his mini-van behind his daughter’s vehicle, and saw the exchange. He drove up next to the Ford pickup and yelled. Both men stopped their vehicles at the corner of Washington Boulevard and Sawtell Drive, got out and began to fist-fight. During the fight, Diaz is suspected of using a box-cutter to stab the other driver, Robert Edward Allen, in the arm and the buttocks.
After being stabbed, Allen returned to his vehicle and attempted to drive away, but Diaz stepped in front of his pickup. Allen allegedly drove his pickup at Diaz, hitting him and throwing him on the hood of the truck.
At this point an off-duty Roseville Police detective on his way home from work saw the altercation, stopped, and detained the parties until uniformed officers arrived.
Officers searched Allen’s pickup and found a large amount of marijuana. In the back of the pickup was a device that officers first thought was a pipe bomb. One of Roseville Police Department’s explosive ordnance officers responded and examined the device, which was found to be not a bomb, but a device used in the manufacture of hashish. More marijuana was found inside the device.
Francisco Javier Diaz, 43, of Roseville was treated by paramedics at the scene for his injuries, and then arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon (allegedly stabbing Allen). He is currently being held in the Placer County Jail on $15,000 bail.
Robert Edward Allen, 37, of Penryn was treated at an area hospital for his stab wounds, then booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weopon (allegedly hitting Diaz with his pickup), manufacturing a controlled substance, driving under the influence of intoxicants, and possession of marijuana. He is being held in the Placer County Jail on $35,000 bail.
