‘I just did what needed to be done.’ SLO County man describes Amber Alert suspect’s capture
When Atascadero resident Eric Johnson helped take down a wanted man at a Cambria gas station on Monday, he did what “50 other people in Cambria” would have done under the same circumstances, he said.
In an interview Tuesday, Johnson, 51, said he just happened to be in the right place at the right time to help restrain a fleeing suspect deemed by authorities in an Amber Alert to be “armed and dangerous.”
Victor Magana, 24, is accused of stabbing and seriously wounding his girlfriend, kidnapping their 2-year-old daughter and then bolting away from the San Jose area.
A statewide Amber Alert was issued Monday for Magana and the toddler that warned members of the public not to approach Magana.
Magana’s route eventually took him to the parking lot of Old Cambria Marketplace and Shell Station at about 10 a.m. Monday, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.
Johnson, the station’s manager, said Magana went into the convenience store, used the restroom and bought two bags of cheese puffs, a kid’s drink and a strawberry milk.
Then Magana walked back to his vehicle, which resembled the light-green 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe mentioned in the Amber Alert, Johnson said.
That’s when Magana picked up a rock and tried to smash in the driver’s window, Johnson said, noting that the San Jose man had apparently locked his keys and his daughter in the car.
Amber Alert suspect spotted at Cambria gas station
Assistant manager Tammy Hall told Johnson that “‘the guy from the Amber Alert is in the parking lot,’ ” he said. Johnson walked outside.
“There were three other guys standing around him,” Johnson added, sharp-eyed citizens who had recognized Magana and his vehicle from the Amber Alert and surrounded him.
Johnson “walked around the car and I peeked in the window to check on the little girl. She was sitting in there, happy as a clam, and this guy is trying to smash a window toward her.”
“My whole concern was for the little girl,” Johnson said. “There was only about 36 inches between her and the window he was trying to bust out. She wasn’t in a car seat or strapped in. She was totally mobile.”
If Magana had broken the window, Johnson said, the glass could have showered the toddler or she could have crawled over into it.
“I just didn’t want anything bad to happen to her,” Johnson said quietly. “I asked Tammy, ‘Is this really the guy?’ and she called the Amber Alert up on her phone and showed it to me.”
“I walked around and checked the license plate,” and confirmed that the man was Magana, Johnson said.
Good Samaritan put man in chokehold
“I told Tammy, ‘Let’s just handle it this way,” Johnson recalled, adding that Magana “was surrounded. He wasn’t going anywhere. I just wanted to get the rock out of his hand before he hurt the child.”
So Johnson placed the San Jose man “in a chokehold,” Hall told The Tribune on Monday.
“I put one hand around his neck, and the other held the arm that had the rock in his hand,” Johnson said. “I tried to shake the rock loose, and told him, ‘Just drop the rock and we’ll get your kid out.’ ”
But Magana kept a tight hold on the rock until one of the other Good Samaritans “came up and took the rock out of his hand,” Johnson said.
Johnson then leaned against Magana, pushing him against the car while saying, “If you’ll place your hands on your car, I’ll let you go,” the station manager recalled.
Johnson said Magana replied, “I don’t have to listen to you. You’re not a cop!”
“We chitchatted back and forth,” Johnson said, as Magana told him repeatedly that “It’s not me. I’m not that guy.” and “I have to get to my daughter. She hasn’t eaten or drunk anything in six hours.”
Johnson said that “it probably was two or three minutes from when I subdued him to when the State Park rangers showed up,” got Magana on the ground and put the suspect in handcuffs.
Magana was taken into custody, while the 2-year-old was turned over to San Luis Obispo County Child Welfare Services.
How Atascadero man trained for confrontation
After the confrontation, Johnson “casually walked back into the store,” he said.
“I was still feeling a little amped up, but I was fine,” he said. “I just did what anybody else should have done.”
Johnson didn’t think he was in danger once “I got a hold on him. I was twice as big as he was,” said the manager, a sturdy man who stands 6 feet, 2 inch inches tall and was probably 10 to 20 years younger than the other men surrounding Magana. “It was like picking up your kid.”
Johnson’s only training for that kind of incident, he said, was “my raucous youth.”
Johnson said he’s been besieged by congratulatory calls and messages. “One of my friends told me, ‘Yeah, I know what a headlock is like from you,’ ” Johnson said.
Things are settling back down to real life for Johnson, a married man who said he has two kids, two dogs, a cat and “a normal life.”
“I just did what needed to be done,” he said.
This story was originally published December 17, 2019 at 1:11 PM.
