Francis Jarid Pusok
APPLE VALLEY – San Bernardino County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a man on assault charges on Wednesday, one day after he punched a man in the nose.
Francis Jarid Pusok, 31, of Apple Valley, was arrested at his home on the 21100 block of Del Oro Road. One day earlier, deputies had been summoned to a residence on the 11000 block of Caribou Avenue at 1:17 Tuesday afternoon. According to reports, Pusok had shown up at the address to retrieve some property he had left behind.
Deputies said the property owners were in the process of changing locks when Pusok arrived. The locks were being changed, said deputies, “after evicting some squatters.”
The squatters were identified as Pusok’s family members. The property owners told Pusok he was not allowed to be there. Apparently without provocation, Pusok punched the unidentified victim in the nose, causing him to fall and his nose to bleed. The victim also suffered an injured back and neck in the fall, eventually receiving treatment at an area hospital.
During a photographic lineup, the victim identified Pusok, and an arrest warrant was issued. A day later, deputies from the Apple Valley Police arrested Pusok at the Del Oro Road residence. He was booked into the High Desert Detention Center on charges of assault with injuries. Held on $50,000 bail, Pusok is scheduled to appear in Victorville Superior Court on Friday.
In April, Pusok was arrested by sheriff’s deputies after leading them on a chase into the mountains while riding a stolen horse. When deputies arrested him, a subsequent beating led to an eventual $650,000 settlement from San Bernardino County.
Ten deputies were eventually placed on administrative leave after a video recording of the beating by a Los Angeles news station was released.
During that 2 1/2-hour chase April 9, Pusok fled by car and then by horseback in the desert while deputies chased him on foot. They were trying to serve a search warrant in an identity-theft investigation in Apple Valley, but Pusok fled, according to reports. Prior to that, records show that Pusok was arrested in November of 2013 for shooting into an inhabited dwelling, and in September of 2014 for resisting or obstructing an officer.
