Isla Vista Rut
Fri., April 10, 12:54 a.m. – Deputies on a routine patrol on Trigo Road came across two males preparing to fight.

The officers watched as the two young males approached each other and started exchanging punches. The deputies quickly exited their patrol car and stepped between the two. One of the deputies was able to detain one of the fighters, a 20-year-old student at Chico State University, while the other perpetrator started down the street in the opposite direction.

The other deputy yelled at him to stop, but the 19-year-old Shasta Community College student ignored the command, prompting the officer to grab him by the arm and escort him to the ground.

Handcuffs on, the officer proceeded to ask the young man, whose nose was bloodied from a punch, why he was fighting.

“We’re fighting because we’re stupid,” the 19-year-old said. “I’m completely drunk. We don’t want to cause any trouble – we’ve just been hitting each other.”

Hearing the question, the other street fighter started shouting his own answer, which started with, “We were punching each other because we’re testing each other out!”

Intrigued by his reasoning, the officer walked over and asked him to elaborate.

“Officer, we ain’t fighting, officer, I call it a spar, we were testing each other out,” he continued. “We were testing out our manly-hood, like two wild boars fighting for a sow.”

The deputies, however, thought that the Santa Barbara County Jail, where the two were transported and housed, would be the most prudent place for testing one’s “manly-hood.”

Leap of Faith
Sun., April 12, 1:10 a.m. – Two male subjects living on the 6500 block of Seville Road decided to spend the early morning hours of Easter Sunday vandalizing some cars, forcing Isla Vista’s finest into action.

According to reports from witnesses, the two males, both 20-years-old or younger, had been walking down the street kicking and punching the side-view mirrors off cars – perhaps preparing for an Easter morning side-view mirror hunt. Then, after they were done with their random acts of vandalism, the two walked into an apartment complex and into their unit on the second floor.

After talking with several witnesses, the officers made their way to the apartment and started knocking. The deputies could hear voices on the other side of the door, and someone would occasionally peek through the blinds to look at the officers, but the door remained closed.

Finally, the property manager arrived with a key and the officers let themselves in. Once inside, a man that fit witnesses’ descriptions came to the door and was quickly detained by the deputies.

The arresting officer immediately recognized the 20-year-old SBCC student from an open container citation he had given him earlier that day.

The deputy then called for the other person in the house to come to the door, and someone shouted back, “He’s putting on clothes.” It was then that the officers heard a loud crash: The other suspect had jumped from the second story kitchen window, landed with a thud in the parking lot, and fled.

The officers went to the parking lot where they found his sweatshirt. A canine unit was called, but the subsequent search was unsuccessful and eventually abandoned.

But the officers didn’t leave empty handed: They arrested the first suspect for felony vandalism and transported him to the Santa Barbara County Jail.

Stop in the name of the Taser
Fri., April 10, 10:27 p.m. – A large street fight on the 6500 block Del Playa Drive caught the attention of the Isla Vista Foot Patrol.

Two deputies arrived on the scene, near the intersection at Camino Pescadero, and saw that there was a crowd of approximately ten males standing in the middle of the street, shouting at each other, and one subject on the ground being arrested by another officer. As the deputies approached, one of the men in the street pointed into the crowd and shouted, “Arrest the guy in the grey shirt.”

Looking around, the officers spotted the grey-shirted man, who was standing about 15 paces away, and sternly told him to “come here.” The 19-year-old male turned and looked directly at the officer, made eye contact and then turned and started sprinting eastbound down Del Playa, towards campus.

The deputies immediately gave chase, all the while shouting at him to stop. After a block, the subject – a Buellton resident – made a left and started northbound on El Embarcadero Road. There, waiting at the next street, was another officer. However, his attempt to cut off the sprinting fighter was thwarted when the subject made another turn and headed down El Nido Lane.

In the confusion, the officer in back was able to gain some ground, and, seeing his opportunity, undid his holster and pulled out his Taser X26. Then, taking aim, the deputy fired and hit the man in the upper back. The runner immediately went limp, fell to the ground face first and momentarily lost consciousness.

With the chase over, the officer slapped handcuffs on the subject and sat him up. Then, after having caught his breath, the deputy asked the downed fighter why he ran, to which he replied, “Cause I didn’t want a ticket.”

The deputy arrested the man for resisting a peace officer and later released him to emergency medical personnel.