Hit-and-run suspect says BMW was stolen

The Costa Mesa man who allegedly used his BMW to run down another man in an Aliso Viejo shopping center attempted to file a stolen vehicle report for his car Friday, police said.

Morteza Bakhtiari, 26, is believed to be the driver of a silver BMW that struck a pedestrian while speeding through the parking lot of the Aliso Viejo Town Center late Thursday.

Forty-one-year-old John Royston was walking through the parking lot when he saw the car driving too fast and either said something or waved for the driver to slow down. The driver of the BMW passed Royston, then made a u-turn and ran him over, said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. Paul D’Auria.

Royston remained in critical condition at Mission Hospital Regional Trauma Center in Mission Viejo as of late Saturday.

Bakhtiari called Costa Mesa Police Friday afternoon to report his car stolen. The 1999 Silver BMW 323i is registered to Bakhtiari, police said.

Sheriffs deputies served a search warrant at Bakhtiari’s Costa Mesa apartment in the 2400 block of Newport Boulevard and found physical evidence that tie’s him to the crime, Amormino said.

“We have evidence linking him to being behind the wheel at the time of the crime,” Amormino said.

Bakhtiari was arrested Friday and booked on suspicion of attempted murder. He was being held at Orange County Jail on $1 million bail, Amormino said.