Jesus Ayala Flores
SANTA BARBARA — Proving once again that the day-to-day working life of uniformed police is anything but predictable, when Santa Barbara Police Department patrol units arrived at an Eastside home shortly after midnight on May 19th pursuant to the resident’s 911 Emergency report of an intruder, they couldn’t anticipate the life-threatening battle awaiting them.
It was just after 1:30 a.m., according to SBPD spokesman Sgt. Joshua Morton, when the cops rolled up to the home and found the reporting resident had “armed himself with a firearm and exited the residence waiting for the police to arrive.” At that point, the officers spotted a suspect inside the house “using a flashlight while rummaging around in the victim’s belongings,” and then making his exit through a second-level balcony and “climbing onto an adjacent rooftop.”
With their suspect in plain sight, officers ordered 36-year-old Jesus Ayala Flores to assume a prone position on the rooftop, service weapons drawn to enforce his compliance. But once the cops attempted to put physical restraints on Flores, he “got up and commenced to violently fight,” Morton reported.
The immediately ensuing struggle—during which Flores kicked, attempted to strangle, and made a sincere effort to drag the officers with him off the rooftop—ended shortly thereafter with Flores being handcuffed. Even at that point, he “continued to fight and resist,” whereupon he was placed in a WRAP device, but not before inflicting injuries upon two of the arresting officers.
Ultimately, Flores was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of attempted murder, felony resisting arrest, burglary, possession of a controlled substance, and being under the influence of a controlled substance.
Photo: Courtesy Santa Barbara County Jail Booking
