SF chase suspect was previously in prison for bombing car of former tenant, documents show
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- ABC7 News learned more about the man who was arrested after allegedly throwing explosive devices out of his car during a dangerous police pursuit from San Francisco to Martinez over the weekend.
According to court documents, 42-year-old Daniel Garcia was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison 11 years ago for detonating a homemade bomb under the car of a former tenant.
"I knew he would do this again. This is why we didn't go back," said Jantina Reed.
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Reed was stunned to learn that Garcia, who went to prison for blowing up her SUV, was now tossing explosive devices at San Francisco police over the weekend.
"It's a shock, oh my gosh, almost like you want to blank it out," said Reed.
Garcia is jailed in San Francisco on more than a dozen charges, including three counts of attempted murder after punching a man attending mass at a North Beach church and then leading police on a bizarre chase over the Bay Bridge Sunday evening that involved tossing out homemade explosive devices that detonated.
San Francisco police said that officers could feel the blowback in their vehicles when the devices detonated.
Garcia was ultimately arrested in Martinez when that chase came to an end.
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San Francisco's Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin said officers told him that Garcia asked them what his score was on Grand Theft Auto, implying he imagined the whole chase was part of a popular video game.
But Garcia was found guilty in 2012 for placing and detonating a bomb under Reed's SUV. She said she and her family rented two bedrooms of Garcia's home in 2011.
"On the third day, we found out he was into crystal meth and steroids so we got a taste of it that night. He ran around the house naked," said Reed.
Soon they moved out, coming back to tow a car with a broken transmission.
"He was all tick-tick boom and pointed at us as we were taking it off and that was our first hint. He had been talking about explosives, how easy it was to get the materials and he has half of it in the garage already," said Reed.
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She claims he stalked them at their new home in Fairfield saying she filed over 20 police reports. Then in May 2011, she says they woke up to an explosion at their apartment in the middle of the night- a bomb planted under her car blew up.
ABC7 News carried the story at the time, Garcia was sentenced to 35 years in prison. Reed still felt unsafe and moved her family out of state. Garcia was released in 2019 after challenging one of the charges against him.
"Look at him. This many years later, it's a repeat. I just wish they never would have let him go," said Reed.
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