$150K Warrant Leads to Wild Foot Chase
Santa Barbara – Santa Barbara Police Department detectives were on the lookout for Yuri Zhagari, 34, wanted on a $150,000 arrest warrant “related to drug charges”, according to SBPD Public Information Officer Lt. Paul McCaffrey in his report to the media on March 26th.
It all began at dusk in a quiet residential neighborhood just north of Santa Barbara’s downtown area, when the plain-clothes detectives observed Zhagari driving past them and began to follow him. Shortly thereafter, Zhagari “soon realized he was being followed”, McCaffrey said, and “he drove away at a high rate of speed”, careening down narrow residential streets. With the detectives in hot pursuit, Zhagari abandoned his car and took off running into a brushy hillside area north of the area’s houses.
As McCaffrey describes it, officers quickly “set up a perimeter and began tightening the noose” as their suspect fled through several neighborhood backyards in a high-energy attempt to evade arrest. Not long after, several blocks away from the initial contact, Zhagari was spotted crossing a busy thoroughfare and he took off running through hillside streets, eventually coming to a cul-de-sac from which there was no escape.
Zhagari was taken into custody without further incident just as the sun was setting, and then taken to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for treatment of a knee injury suffered during his evasive efforts. He was then booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on charges of driving on a suspended license, resisting arrest, and possession of brass knuckes,in addition to the original arrest warrant charges which were not disclosed.
Read more:
Noozhawk: SB Police Arrest Wanted Man After Chase
EdHat: SBPD Pursuit
