Man charged with unlawful flight, imprisonment

Two criminal complaints totaling five felonies were filed in Yuma Justice Court against the man who reportedly fled from law enforcement Saturday night with a woman in his vehicle.

Enrique Rivera, 31, was arraigned before Justice of the Peace Greg Stewart, who informed him that the Yuma County Attorney's Office was charging him with one count of unlawful flight from pursuing law enforcement, one count of unlawful imprisonment and one count of endangerment in the first complaint.

Stewart also told Rivera during a brief five-minute court hearing that he was being charged with one count of possession of a narcotic drug — cocaine — and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia in a separate complaint.

In addition to ordering that Rivera's bond remain at a combined $195,000, which had been set at a previous hearing, Stewart scheduled his next court date: a preliminary hearing for 4 p.m. March 27.

Rivera, who still had visible scrapes to his face and nose, had to be brought into the courtroom by deputies in a wheelchair after being injured when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed while allegedly trying to escape from deputies.

According to the Yuma County Sheriff's Office, at about 10:40 p.m. Saturday, a deputy attempted to conduct a traffic stop on Rivera's brown Jeep Grand Cherokee at Avenue B and 8th Street, with him initially pulling over on Avenue B near 4th Place.

As the deputy approached the vehicle, a woman was heard screaming for help and to be let out of the vehicle. Rivera then drove off with the woman still inside the vehicle.

A brief high-speed chase ended when Rivera crashed into another car carrying two people at the intersection of Avenue B and 24th Street. No one in that car was hurt.

Rivera and the woman passenger, a 28-year-old Yuma resident, were both taken to Yuma Regional Medical Center, where they were treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released.

According to YCSO, the woman had met Rivera at a party earlier that night and he had offered to give her a ride to work, which she accepted. A deputy tried to stop Rivera after he reportedly blew past him on Avenue B and 8th Street going an estimated 80-100 mph.

James Gilbert can be reached at jgilbert@yumasun.com or 539-6854. Find him on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/YSJamesGilbert or on Twitter @YSJamesGilbert.