Santa Barbara County – Nicholas McCloud, a 28 year-old with documented criminal gang affiliation, has learned that he simply doesn’t have the athletic ability to successfully evade pursuing members of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department.
On the morning of February 11th, as reported by SBSD Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, McCloud was being sought by law enforcement in connection with an ongoing gang and drug investigation. As so often happens, keen-eyed members of the Sheriff’s Gang Enforcement Unit happened to visually observe pedestrian McCloud near his Orcutt residence. When they endeavored to have a word with him, however, McCloud “took off running”, according to Hoover, “and a foot pursuit ensued.”
With Deputies on his heels, McCloud vaulted several backyard fences, making an apparently sincere attempt to avoid the contact sought by the Deputies. It was during this pell-mell flight from those in uniform that McCloud found a bicycle in a residential backyard, and accelerated his flight from the law.
Deputies continued to pursue McCloud—although they didn’t have the benefit of mechanical transport and continued on foot—who led them past the Joe Nightingale Elementary School. In an abundance of caution, other Sheriff’s Deputies immediately secured the grammar school campus with a temporary “lockdown” of all personnel and facilities. Just ten minutes later, however, McCloud was spotted by his pursuers on a nearby front porch and promptly taken into custody.
Once the breathless suspect was in handcuffs, McCloud “was found to be in possession of a replica handgun and methamphetamine,” the latter perhaps explaining his irrationally manic attempt to outrun trained law enforcement officers. McCloud was summarily transported to Santa Barbara County Jail where he was booked on charges of possession of a controlled substance, resisting arrest, and grand theft of a bicycle.
Read more:
Noozhawk: Orcutt school locked down during suspect pursuit
EdHat: Gang detectives arrest suspect
NBC: Detectives arrest Santa Maria man following foot pursuit
