Santa Maria police fail to catch fleeing suspect

January 29, 2013

carSanta Maria police officers captured the vehicle, but not the man they were chasing Monday afternoon. [KSBY]

Officers chased after a stolen car in the 500 block of West Mill Street around 12:10 p.m. Monday, but ended the pursuit because they were concerned about safety. The police later found the vehicle abandoned near Atlantic Place and North Railroad Avenue.

Some Santa Maria schools entered lockdown as a result of the chase.

Police say the driver was a Hispanic man with a goatee and a shaved head. A Hispanic woman with red, curly hair was also in the vehicle.

Monday marked the one-year anniversary of the day a Santa Maria police officer shot and killed a fellow officer. The officer who died was best friends with the officer who killed him.

On January 28, 2012, officer Matt Kline attempted to arrest Albert Covarrubias Jr. for having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl. The 29-year-old Covarrubias fired his gun when officers tried to arrest him, prompting Kline to return fire and kill him.

 


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Maybe it was too noisy and they lost their bearings. These days, anything is possible.


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http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8971311


Forgot to add that Cal Coast News could have elected to praise SMPD for terminating the pursuit due to a concern for safety, but not gonna happen.


In all honesty, upon reading the story this morning, I had to wonder if they really terminated the pursuit or if the guy managed to get away and they didn’t want to “cop to it”. It would be interesting to know how long it was between the time they located the empty vehicle and the time they terminated the pursuit.


Not saying they didn’t terminate but it’s rare that they (LE) ever do.


What has the one year anniversary of the officer-involved shooting in Santa Maria got to do with this story? Absolutely nothing, other than to provide more evidence of the agenda or bias of Cal Coast News regarding the Santa Maria Police Department. I suspect that January 28th is the one year anniversary of a lot of other events as well, but Cal Coast News chose one specific event. Nice, not so subtle, editorializing “hidden” in a “news” articlde.


Agreed. If it was worth mentioning at all, it deserved it’s own headline.


KSBY made a big deal about it being the anniversary of the cop on “criminal cop” shooting on the news last night. The segment lasted at least 10 minutes and they talked about what could possibly have been done different. I felt like barfing as it seems to me that when you resist arrest and pull your gun and discharge it, the family of the deceased really needs to just STFU rather than file a bunch of law suits and further embarrass themselves.


So anonymous commenter, pretending to be connected to LE also wants to be a media critic?


Where is your comment on KSBY’s piece that they really worked on?


Op cant be anonymous troll on KSBY? how sad.


“bias of Cal Coast News”


This is the Central Coast, NOT LA or LAPD ruled media


“Police say the driver was a Hispanic man with a goatee and a shaved head.”


Wow. Now there’s a shocker. That description must fit at least 25% of the town’s population.


but when you add in his side kick with the red curly hair ?


I’m betting he dumped her just about as quickly as he dumped the car.


He’s probably already shaved off the goatee, so now the description fits about 50% of the population. Not much to go on as far as identifiers.


Not to worry, his familia will hide him.


Carrot Top no doubt.


Aren’t carrot tops green?


He could be Irish……