Arraignment for Bike Theft Suspect Accused of Stabbing Harbor Police Officer

A man accused of stabbing a Harbor Police Department officer allegedly told the officer "I'm going to kill you," before taking a knife to the officer's thigh, a prosecutor said at the suspect's arraignment Tuesday.

Suspect Oscar Soto, 50, pleaded not guilty to four felony counts, including attempted murder on a police officer, assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, grand theft and possession of burglary tools.

Witnesses say the suspect on a bike wheeled into an alley near Market and 15th streets just before noon, on his way to a pedicab company nearby. A Harbor police officer pulled up in his car and told the man to stop. According to the witnesses, the officer was in plain clothes.

During a scuffle, the suspect stabbed the officer in the upper right thigh, the Port spokesperson said.

"After 30 seconds or so of that struggle, this defendant took out a knife and told Detective Arce specifically, 'I'm going to kill you,'" said Steven Schott, deputy district attorney. "He then took that knife and stabbed Detective Arce in the thigh and took that knife and tried to stab him again. Fortunately, Detective Arce was able to stop him."

The officer was taken to UCSD Medical Center and is expected to make a full recovery.

"We've got the men and women in blue who go out to protect us every day," Schott said. "Fortunately, they are usually able to come home safe and sound. I think an instance like this goes to show the dangers they face and what may otherwise be seen as routine police work. In this case, there was nothing routine about it, and we're very thankful Detective Arce is going to recover from this incident."

At his arraignment, Schott detailed Soto's extensive criminal history. He is a known gang member with a criminal history that dates back to 1989 and has been in and out of prison since that time. Soto has nine previous felony convictions.

Schott asked that bail be set at $1 million dollars, but the defense argued that Soto is 50 years old, local, and that his past convictions mostly involve stolen property. The judge set bail at $750,000.