By Drew Mackie

Staff Writer

In the first 10 days of January, Isla Vista Foot Patrol officers were made aware of three unrelated battery cases, two of which resulted in arrest.

On Saturday, Jan. 4 at 12:01 a.m., IVFP officers responding to a report of a fight near a residence on the 700 block of Camino del Sur arrived and observed a vehicle backing out of a parking lot at a high speed. An officer approached the car, suspecting its occupants may have been involved in the altercation.

The driver, 21-year-old Goleta resident Dimitiriy Toumanov, and two passengers, 20-year-old Goleta resident Phillip Boteilho and 22-year-oldI.V. resident David Scheinhart, exited the vehicle. Toumanov admitted immediately he had been involved in the fight. A witness informed the officer that a fourth participant, 20-year-old Santa Ana resident Joseph Bomgren, had entered an apartment on the 700 block of Camino del Sur.

Bomgren told police he had been walking in a parking lot when three unknown men attacked him. During his alleged pummeling, Bomgren said he heard the men discussing the possibility that they might be attacking the wrong person.

Upon being questioned by the other officer, Toumanov said he had been driving down Del Playa Drive when Bomgren’s van ran his vehicle off the road. Toumanov said he felt the incident happened in such a way that Bomgren’s actions must have been a “deliberate attack.” He also said he recalled Bomgren yelling obscenities. Toumanov and his companions then followed Bomgren’s vehicle and attacked him.

Toumanov identified the van he said Bomgren was driving; the officer questioning them later verified the vehicle did belong to Bomgren. However, Bomgren denied having driven the vehicle or instigating a conflict with Toumanov’s car.

Although Bomgren recognized Toumanov, Boteilho and Scheinhart from the lineup, he could not positively say they were his attackers. Unable to determine who the aggressors were, the officer filed the fight as an incident report and not a crime report.

On Saturday, Jan. 4, 19-year-old North Hills resident Skyler Sutton and 19-year-old New Hall resident Lee Cruz filed a report of an assault on New Year’s Eve. The men claimed they had been assaulted in the street outside a residence on the 6700 block of Del Playa Drive.

Sutton said he attempted to confront a man who had attacked Cruz with a bottle when a female subject threw beer in his face, temporarily blinding him and opening him up to be punched several times in the face. The blows forced four of Sutton’s teeth through his bottom lip, necessitating eight stitches inside his mouth and seven stitches outside.

Sutton described the male suspect as a 6-foot-tall, white man in his early 20s with brown hair. The woman was described as being 5 feet, 5 inches, in her early 20s with shoulder-length blonde hair.

A week later, on Friday, Jan. 10, at about 11:30 p.m., an IVFP officer observed 18-year-old Long Beach resident Shanel Renee Almonte vomiting from the rear door of a white limousine parked along the 6600 block of Sabado Tarde Road.

Almonte was arrested for public intoxication, then transported to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital for medical clearance. While speaking to the occupants of the limousine – 21-year-old Long Beach resident Craig Hunt, 21-year-old Lomita resident Clinton Chandler and 21-year-old Avalon resident Jon Quantson – the officer heard a report from an EMT regarding a man beaten by three men associated with a white limousine.

Quantson told officers the limousine had carried the Long Beach residents to I.V. for a birthday party. Once in custody, Hunt told the officer that Chandler had gotten into a verbal altercation with David Hayward, an 18-year-old Scotts Valley resident. He told the officer he recalled “cruising I.V.” in the limousine and picking up “chicks.” Hunt explained he had received a large lump on his head when he fell down. He also recalled Chandler being hit in the face.

The officer finally questioned the limousine driver, 35-year old Los Angeles resident Alfredo Espinosa, who said he recalled repeatedly driving Chandler in the limousine with various groups of young women. He also said he saw an unidentified man strike Chandler in the face.

Chandler and Hunt were arrested for battery and taken to the Santa Barbara County Jail. Quantson was released without being charged.