Palo Cedro rodeo organizer Carlos Zapata recovering after intentional hit-and-run; focuses on community, faith and next chapter

October 14, 2026 - PALO CEDRO — Nearly three weeks after authorities say a driver intentionally struck him with a vehicle while he was helping clean up after the inaugural Palo Cedro Rodeo, Carlos Zapata says he is getting stronger every day and remains hopeful about a full recovery.

In a Wednesday evening interview with Shasta Unfiltered, Zapata declined to discuss specific injuries, citing ongoing insurance matters and the criminal case. News reports at the time described him being taken to Mercy Medical Center in Redding, initially in the ICU with broken ribs, a broken scapula, a punctured lung, and lacerations requiring 18 staples in his head.

Asked about his recovery, Zapata said, “I’m feeling stronger every day, and it’s going to be a long road ahead as far as feeling 100 percent. But I definitely feel like I’m on the right track, and… I’m feeling very hopeful now that I will make a full recovery eventually.”

The incident and case

Shasta County sheriff’s deputies responded around 1:56 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, to Palo Cedro Community Park near Cedro Lane and Calistoga Way after multiple reports that an adult man had been intentionally struck by a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed. The Palo Cedro Rodeo Association said the suspect had been doing burnouts in the parking lot and antagonizing members cleaning up after Saturday’s first CCPRA-certified rodeo before driving toward people and striking Zapata, then fleeing.

Dustin Alan Mingarelli, 47, of the Redding area, was identified by witnesses, arrested the next morning in Napa County on suspicion of attempted murder and felony hit-and-run causing injury, and later extradited to Shasta County. Prosecutors filed charges including attempted murder, hit-and-run driving resulting in injury, and four counts of assault with a deadly weapon, along with enhancements for great bodily injury and other violent-conduct allegations.

On Oct. 5, Hon. Daniel Flynn (Department 24) of the Shasta County Superior Court set Mingarelli’s bail at $500,000 over the district attorney’s objection; prosecutors had sought a no-bail hold. He is scheduled to return to court Oct. 19 for further proceedings. Zapata declined to comment in detail on the bail decision or the case.

“I’m just going to leave it up to the courts and the law to do what’s right, and that’s all I can say at this time,” he said. “I really don’t want to talk too much about that case. There’s obviously ongoing investigations… I really just want to let the process take its course and pray that everything works out as it should.”

Faith, family and community support

Zapata credited community support and personal faith for helping him through the ordeal, while carefully framing both. “Absolutely. I don’t know how you get through something like this without faith in something,” he said. “If anything, it’s faith in the wonderful humans in this community who have reached out, shown their love and supported us in so many ways. I would say there’s faith in God.”

He added that he is cautious about publicly attributing his survival solely to divine favor: “I don’t ever want to sound like God showed favor over me over somebody else. I realize that same day there was probably somebody that didn’t make it… So I never like to attribute my well-being to God only because I feel like it’s a little bit selfish in the sense that there’s somebody else who maybe God did not favor that day.”

Family and friends have been actively helping, he said. Zapata is married with four children, ages 23, 20, 18 and 16. He lives in Palo Cedro and has called the North State home, on and off, for about 30 years. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Santa Rosa, he chooses to stay here. “I have the means to live wherever I choose to live, and I choose to live here because I think it is one of the special places in the world, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else,” he said.

Pride in the rodeo and looking ahead

Rather than focus on the aftermath of the incident, Zapata repeatedly steered the conversation toward the rodeo itself and the people who made it happen. A committee of 16 worked for a year on logistics, joined by numerous volunteers, sponsors, contestants, and spectators. He described the event as “arguably one of the best rodeos that I’ve been to in a long, long time” and a “legacy event for the community.”

Plans are already underway for the second annual event. “The plan is that was the first annual, and we are very much in plans already for the second annual,” he said. “My ideal outcome for all of this is that people remember what a good rodeo we put on and how this community came together for something really positive that hasn’t been done before.”

Zapata owns Silver Bridge Rodeo Company and works as a real estate agent with Shasta Sotheby’s. He has been involved in buying and selling residential and commercial real estate for roughly 25–30 years and obtained his agent license in July. He describes the work as a “labor of love.” “You’re getting to meet people at their most vulnerable or their happiest moment, sometimes both,” he said. “Being able to help them along and help them through that process is super rewarding.”

He has largely stepped back from local political involvement. He co-founded the Red, White and Blueprint group and contributed to its documentary series during the COVID period as a response to what participants saw as a need for greater accountability in local government. He said he is very proud to have been a part of it but has not been actively involved for more than three years.

“Once I felt like my identity was getting absorbed by politics, I had to step away because I never wanted that to be my identity or what I was known for,” Zapata said. “I wanted to be known as a husband, a father, a friend, a businessman, somebody that cares about this community deeply… I just never wanted my identity to be in politics.”

He continues to vote for and support candidates he believes are good for the area, but he avoids consuming daily news, citing bias across outlets. When we asked Zapata about his relationship with Woody Clendenen, who appeared with him on many episodes of the docuseries, he said he is "a lifelong friend, a very, very special mentor, and brother," and noted that Woody is now in Texas with his family. (Clendenen was the Cottonwood barber and founder of the Cottonwood Militia, and he was frequently shown with Zapata in the production.)

Zapata expressed optimism about the region’s trajectory in Palo Cedro, Redding and greater Shasta County.

“I’m very proud of this community. I’m very blessed to be a part of it,” he said. “Just because I’m taking a step back from politics doesn’t mean I’m not taking steps forward in helping the community in many ways… I’m excited for the next fifty years or so to see what happens. It’s a pretty cool ride to be on.”

Shasta Unfiltered previously reported on the arrest and initial charges. The criminal case remains pending. Mingarelli is scheduled to return to Shasta County Superior Court on Monday, October 19, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. in Department 24 for the setting of his plea disposition and preliminary hearing dates.