Santa Barbara – It’s trite, it’s hoary, and it’s so obvious that it grates on the senses to even utter the words some people never learn, but never was it more true that in the case of Christian Jesus Gutierrez, now in custody in Santa Barbara County Jail with his bail set at $250,000.
It seems that Mr. Gutierrez—“a known drug dealer who at the time of this arrest was out of custody, on bail, for three pending drug cases” as described by Sgt. Riley Harwood, Santa Barbara Police Department Public Information Officer—simply doesn’t consider the possibility of an extended stay in one of the California Department of Corrections rather austere accommodations as a serious threat to his peace of mind.
However, when Gutierrez answered the door to his residence early on the morning of July 3rd and found himself face-to-face with a plethora of SBPD Narcotics Detectives (whom one might presume were less than thrilled to be standing on a suspect’s doorstep at the breakfast hour), the possibility of extended incarceration must have crossed his mind as he immediately bolted back into the house, rushed to the bathroom, and “attempted to destroy two ounces of cocaine valued at $2,200.00,” according to Harwood.
But real life is seldom like the movies (where drug-flushing scenes are de rigeur), and the narco-cops intervened to prevent the destruction of their evidence. During the ensuing scuffle, one of the detectives suffered a serious laceration caused by broken glass wielded by Gutierrez to the extent that he was rushed to Santa Barbara’s Cottage Hospital for surgical attention to the gushing wound.
For his part, the 35-year-old Gutierrez was summarily restrained and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail where he was booked for possession of cocaine for sale, destruction of evidence, resisting a police officer resulting in serious injury, commission of a felony whle released from custody, and child endangerment pursuant to the fact that the evidence was well within reach of Gutierrez’s two children living in the home. He remains in custody with bail set at $250,000.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
Read more:
EdHat: Cocaine and Child endangerment
Independent: SB man arrested for Cocaine, child endangerment
