Santa Barbara County – The U.S. 101 north of Santa Barbara is a wide open, scenic stretch of highway that sometimes lulls drivers into high rates of speed, frequently in violation of the posted speed limits. It may have just been that day-dreaming oversight and failure to maintain his travel at the posted limit just after noon on Thursday, August 27th that brought flashing red lights charging up behind a car driven by Emanuel Garibay-Padilla, a 25-year-old from Solvang.
When he was pulled over by the CHP officer on patrol that day, the officer took note of obvious “contraband in plain sight in the vehicle,” according to Santa Barbara county Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover. When the officer invited Garibay-Padilla to alight from his car, he was immediately assaulted by the young man. The CHP officer made an immediate call for assistance while engaged in a physical altercation, and that assistance arrived with unexpected alacrity as a Sheriff’s Department deputy in plain clothes, who just happened to be in the area, was promptly on the scene.
Garibay-Padilla, perhaps more of a pugilist than he initially appeared, managed to fight off the attempts of the two officers to restrain him, and before he could be stopped, he was back in his car and driving at breakneck speed down the 101 toward Santa Barbara.
As these things generally go, additional CHP units were called to join the pursuit, along with the Santa Barbara County Air Support Unit. Reaching speeds approaching 100 mph, Garibay-Padilla crossed the center median, reversed direction, and continued his flight northbound on U.S. 101. Just north of the Gaviota Tunnel—an area of sweeping turns requiring slower speeds—“the CHP successfully deployed a spike strip” which caused Garibay-Padilla to come to a sudden halt.
He was summarily taken into custody by waiting deputies, arrested at the scene and transported to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital for treatment to the injuries he sustained in the course of his resisting arrest. Once cleared, he was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of felony evading, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, threats of violence against a peace officer, and battery on a peace officer, with his bail set at $75,000.
Both the CHP officer and the plainclothes deputy were treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Photo: courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
