Ventura – The hazards of being out of touch with contemporary pop culture was demonstrated on the morning of September 24th as Ventura Police Department officers responded to “a report of a wanted subject” made by an area neighborhood citizen.
According to the VPD media report, when the officers arrived on the scene, they spotted an individual “who matched the description of the wanted subject” and then made an attempt at personal greeting in their customary fashion. Apparently, their cordial attempt to establish communication with 34-year old Ventura resident Jesus Arreola failed to convince him that this was likely to become an opportunity to enjoy the benefits of the community policing outreach a la “coffee with a cop”, and he reacted by summarily swinging his backpack at one of the officers.
At that point Arreola turned tail and sprinted for parts unknown, leaping fences and dashing through a series of neighborhood backyards. Arreola, perhaps somewhat gifted as a track-and-field hurdler, manage to elude his pursuers who somehow lost sight of their prey. Clearly oblivious to the eventual outcome of such events as commonly portrayed on every TV cop show since “Starsky and Hutch”, Arreola soon found himself boxed in as VPD quickly established a secure perimeter and began to tighten the noose.
It was at this time that the local area elementary school was placed on security lockdown until Arreola could be tracked down and taken into custody some 20 minutes later. Having suffered what was described as “minor injuries he sustained during the foot pursuit”, Arreola was treated by Ventura City Fire personnel on the scene, at which time all involved parties realized that Arreola was not the man police were initially seeking.
If only Arreola had been a fan of movie musicals, he might have remembered an instructive lyric from West Side Story’s “Cool”: Gotta rocket in your pocket, keep cool, boy! Perhaps completely unaware of that good advice, the now-injured Arreola’s unexpected bolting from police contact got him a ride to to Ventura County Jail, where he was booked on multiple felony and midemeanor warrants, resisting arrest, and possession of stolen property.
Photo: Courtesy 20th Century Fox Films
Read more:
EdHat: Warrant arrest
KCLU: Wanted man leads police on chase,
