Cinderblock assault on cops leaves suspect dead

A Santa Barbara mobile home park was the site of a confrontation between sheriff's deputies and a man with a cinderblock.

SANTA BARBARA — Just after noon on Saturday, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies responded to a 911 call describing a strangely behaving man wearing only a bath towel and roaming through a peaceful mobile home retirement community shouting obscenities.

When deputies arrived at the mobile home park, they observed a man “acting bizarrely and shouting,” said sheriff’s spokesman Drew Sugars.

Deputies approached Kerry Flood, 52, of San Juan Capistrano, and were, according to Sugars, “immediately attacked with a cinder block.”

One of the deputies was struck in the head by the cinder block. Tasers were fired at Flood but failed to subdue him or deter him from continuing his assault.

“At that time, the suspect was fired upon by deputies,” Sugars told reporters, “and he was struck by that gunfire.”

Sugars did not indicate how many gunshots hit Flood, but he was soon thereafter pronounced dead at the scene.

Sugars said the unprovoked attack during a simple disturbance call “underscores how dangerous this job can be.”

The names of the deputies involved in the shooting, who were put on paid administrative leave, are currently being withheld pending further investigation into the shooting.