The Bearcat
Santa Barbara – There are few places along the California coastline as picturesque and inviting for a stroll as Santa Barbara’s Shoreline Park.
Usually a serene environment where the most exciting event of the day might be a dog barking at a passing seagull, on a recent Sunday morning, the park became the scene of a potentially violent standoff involving deputies from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and SWAT officers of the Santa Barbara Police Department, all of whom responded to the area in an impressive show of force.
Jeremiah Freeman
It was just after 8:00 a.m. on March 6th when significant law enforcement firepower reacted to a 911 Emergency call reporting a man threatening suicide with a loaded gun while seated inside his vehicle in the Shoreline Park parking lot.
According to SBPD spokesman Sgt. Todd Johnson, the man, “identified as Jeremiah Freeman of Santa Barbara” was “possibly armed with a gun” and justified the rollout of the department’s formidable “Bearcat” armored vehicle to the location.
Responding officers, with significant armed response including unholstered service pistols and long guns, approached Freeman’s parked Lincoln Navigator and ordered him from the vehicle.
As Johnson reported the incident to the media, Freeman “apparently was upset about being arrested the previous night on an alcohol-related charge,” and took considerable verbal coaxing before he alighted from the vehicle.
Freeman exited the Navigator slowly and wisely, with hands reaching for the sky as he faced a plethora of gun barrels pointed in his direction.
“He did not appear to be suicidal,” Johnson reported, and he had no weapons in his possession. He was nevertheless arrested at the scene and transported to Santa Barbara County Jail and charged once again with public intoxication.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department
