Palo Alto Cashier Robbed, Run Over After Customer Dispute: Police

PALO ALTO, CA — A cashier at a Palo Alto spa and massage business was robbed and run over by a car following a dispute with a customer last week, according to the Palo Alto Police Department.

The suspect, 31-year-old Juan Carlos Valdivia of San Jose, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, robbery and hit-and-run causing injury and taken into custody on Monday. The victim sustained “major injuries but is in stable condition,” police said.

The incident, which took place Sept. 24 in the 3400 block of El Camino Real, occurred after a dispute while Valdivia was paying for a massage and the receipt didn’t display the tip amount he had added, according to police. Valdivia then took both the merchant and customer copies of the receipt and left, police said.

The cashier, a woman in her 40s, followed him and attempted to take the merchant’s copy of the receipt, but police said Valdivia took her phone, drove away and then ran over the victim as he left.

Valdivia was arrested in South San Francisco on Monday after an arrest warrant was issued by a Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge.