200 block of Center Street, Watsonville | Google Maps
WATSONVILLE — 33-year-old local Ruben Espinoza was arrested on Tuesday afternoon after a brief standoff with the Santa Cruz County Auto Theft Task Force.
At around 2:20 PM, task force agents were conducting surveillance in Watsonville when they came across one of their subjects, Espinoza, who happened to have a few felony warrants attached to his name.
Police had been looking for him ever since he managed to avoid capture the day before. When agents spotted him again on Tuesday, he was driving a stolen vehicle and promptly hit the gas when he noticed them. After a short distance, Espinoza then fled the vehicle and tried to escape on foot.
Officers chased him into a residence in the 200 block of Center Street, where he barricaded himself and a standoff ensued.
A newly-developed Special Response Team was called in for assistance. After several hours of futile attempts to talk Espinoza out of the house, the team went inside and found him hiding in a closet. He was quickly apprehended with the assistance of a K-9 unit.
He has been charged in accordance with his existing warrants and new charges in relation to the stolen vehicle, as well as evading police, and booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail. His bail has been set at $10,000.
