By F. Scott Faulkner
Santa Barbara County, CA
Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department patrol deputies responded to a 911 Emergency Call
on January 6 reporting “a disturbance” at a Carpinteria mobile home park.
Upon arrival at the scene, deputies quickly learned that 52-year-old Carpinteria resident Phillip
Cummings had struck his elderly female neighbor in the face during a verbal altercation.
According to SBSD Public Information Officer Raquel Zick, the victim reported that Cummings
had also “slapped her phone out of her hand.” As deputies investigated the situation and
conducted interviews of neighbors who had witnessed the events in question, Cummings
“retreated to his residence.”
Meanwhile, 28-year-old Carpinteria resident Krysta Thompson arrived at the scene, identified
herself as Cummings’ girlfriend, and promptly “confronted and intimidated” the elderly female
victim in such a manner that she interfered with the deputies as they conducted their
investigation. For her trouble, Thompson was arrested at the scene, taken into custody, and
transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where she was subsequently booked on charges of
obstruction, dissuading a witness, and elder abuse.
Once Thompson was no longer a factor, deputies returned their attention to Cummings, but he
refused to exit his mobile home, only speaking to the cops through a window while wearing a
ballistic vest and threatening to retrieve his handgun.
At that point, deputies retreated and began to prepare a tactical plan to extract Cummings from
his residence while seeking a warrant for his arrest.
48 hours later, on the afternoon of January 8, the SBSD Special Enforcement Team paid a visit
to the mobile home park, search and arrest warrants in hand. After evacuating nearby residents,
deputies entered Cummings’ residence and took him into custody “without further incident.” The
ensuing search of the premises led to the discovery of a loaded handgun, a loaded shotgun, and
the aforementioned ballistic vest.
Cummings was transported to Santa Barbara County Jail, where he was booked on charges of
obstruction, threats, battery, elder abuse, and damaging a communication device. He remains in
custody with his bail set at $1 million.
