Did they check the car? He went to the car and then came back before attacking the Greeter. How do we know that he did not dump a stolen item in the car and the come back?
Since it appears that the perp was arrested on the spot on a felony charge, I believe that the standard procedure would be to tow the car to the impound lot after it's been searched.
The details of what, if anything, were found in the car may not have made it into the story for a variety of reasons...the poorly-written article suggests that 'reporter laziness' may well be among them.