Failure to Evade by Drunk Driver Ends in Arrest in SB County
ABOVE: Michael Morales arrest photo (Santa Barbara County Jail)
ORCUTT — We’re still looking for the chapter in the book entitled “How to Run from the Cops” that reflects even the slightest odds of successfully outrunning pursuing patrol units. Once we find those instructions, we’ll forward them to 24-year-old Bakersfield resident drunk driver Michael Morales.
Based upon the events transpiring just after midnight on February 18th, Morales could use that kind of information.
Morales’ troubles began at 2 AM in Santa Maria when, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Kelly Hoover, deputies “responded to a report of an intoxicated subject vandalizing vehicles” on a residential street in the community of Orcutt.
Upon arrival at the reported scene, deputies spotted Morales behind the wheel of his vehicle and promptly conducted a routine traffic stop. But as the cops were about to alight from their patrol unit and make personal contact with Morales, he “accelerated away and began to recklessly evade deputies through downtown Orcutt.”
At that point, the chase was on, and Morales managed to blast through a series of stop signs, drive into oncoming lanes, and accelerate his vehicle “at reckless and high speeds.” With red lights and sirens no doubt distracting him, Morales eventually lost control of his car, smashed into a commercial area curb, and collided with a retail establishment’s outdoor furniture before grinding to a halt as “deputies utilized their patrol vehicles and blocked the suspect vehicle” from moving another inch.
Undaunted and perhaps experiencing a serious lapse of judgment, Morales then tried to outrun the cops on foot, only to ultimately be “subdued by deputies” and taken into custody. Morales was then transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of DUI, felony evading, and resisting arrest, with his bail set at $75,000.
