The Weekly Dump 3.29.19

Shooting Across From Boardwalk Sends Man to Hospital

Monday night around 9:30PM, SCPD responded to a report of shots fired near the Boardwalk. When officers arrived, they found multiple shell casings on the 100 block of Park Place near Beach street. During the investigation, two 21 year old men from San Jose were arrested, and one of them had to be taken to the hospital after accidentally shooting himself in the leg. The man with the gunshot would was found hiding in the back of a parked SUV on Beach near the intersection of Park Place. SCPD made a high risk callout after seeing him inside the vehicle barely responsive, but eventually they were able to determine he was the one who had been shot. While being treated for his injuries, a holster was located inside of his pants and he had gun powder burns on his thigh and injuries to his calf, indicating he likely shot himself. Security camera footage also showed the victim shooting a pistol. The second man was found nearby and was uncooperative and had to be detained in handcuffs after a brief struggle that included a security guard. As they struggled, a knife with the blade open and locked in place fell out of his pants pocket and the security guard was injured by the knife, sustaining a puncture wound to his leg. The gunshot wound victim was arrested for discharging a firearm in a negligent manner and carrying a concealed weapon. The other man was arrested for presenting a false identification to a peace officer and possession of a concealed dirk/dagger.

Just in time for Spring Break!

High Risk Take Down at Walnut and Mission

I heard about a high risk vehicle stop in the parking lot of a gas station at Walnut and Mission on Thursday afternoon. Apparently this was related to some kind of strong armed robbery at Bay and West Cliff that happened shortly before the stop. 3 suspects were in a black BMW when one of them jumped out and ripped a gold chain off of someone’s neck. The car was apparently registered out of Watsonville. Jumping out of a car and ripping someone’s gold chain off them is so ghetto!

Neighborhood Beef Leads to Stabbing

Some sort of dispute and confrontation over some kind of neighborhood issue led to one person stabbing another around 6PM on Tuesday on the 800 block of 38th Avenue, according to reports from the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. The victim’s injuries were apparently not life threatening and the suspect was taken into custody.

City Council Walks it Back

Well that didn’t last long. The City Council, or at least the 5 in attendance on Tuesday night, walked back their support for Lot 24. Well, 3 of them already voted no but Cynthia Mathews had a public change of heart. They decided they will “reconsider” turning a city parking lot into an overnight safe sleeping zone for the city’s homeless population. But the location choice is all but dead now. Even though the evening’s agenda had no homelessness related items to discuss, the council ended up taking a unanimous vote to consider rescinding temporary use of “Lot 24” near Depot Park as a 50-person pilot “dusk-till-dawn” encampment and storage program at its April 9th meeting. They caved to enormous and intense community pressure, and probably the pressure of a number of lawsuits they would likely lose or be forced to settle on. After hearing from more than 40 speakers, Mathews told the crowd that their presence at the meeting and their letters worked.

Santa Cruz elected leaders have faced nothing but public opposition to proposed homeless encampments, shelters and safe parking programs in their neighborhoods as the city tries to figure out a way to compassionately get out of this mess they created and try to save some face in doing so. In April, city council members tried to propose several alternative sites including land near the Pogonip, Dimeo Lane and Emeline Avenue (and all were rejected after community pressure). The city wanted to use the Armory and they said no. DeLaveaga neighbors rallied the troops to oppose using the Armory, and the state later told city officials that the property was unavailable due to “planned site renovations”. Even the rumor of using a parking lot in Live Oak ruffled John Leopold’s panties enough to publicly rebuke the idea. With the closure of Camp Bernal TENTATIVELY (we do nothing else) planned for April 17th, I’ve heard nothing from the city about changing that date since this recent news was made public.

Just shut it down. It’s a public nuisance and a public safety hazard. It’s a drug camp. Show some spine and shut it down.

Fatal Accident Kills Woman Near Capitola Mall

Just after 10:00AM on Tuesday morning, a 60 year old woman was hit from behind by a van while driving on 41st avenue, causing her car to crash into a Metro bus in front of her near Clares street. Capitola Police shut down a portion of 41st Avenue while they investigated the accident. Investigators do not believe drugs or alcohol played a factor.

Burglary Suspects Chase Shuts Down Watsonville High School

Watsonville High School was placed on lockdown Monday morning while authorities searched for burglary suspects in the area. According to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office, a vehicle pursuit took place after four burglary suspects sped away from a home in Watsonville. Three suspects were detained around 11 a.m. Deputies found the fourth suspect less than 20 minutes later. All four suspects were arrested. The lockdown at Watsonville High was lifted around 11:15 a.m.

Boat Sinks Off Seacliff State Beach

Friday afternoon, a 53 foot boat anchored about a mile east of Soquel Point began to sink into the ocean. Nobody was on board the boat at the time it began to sink. By the time the Coast Guard responded, the boat was 60 feet under water. The next day, a salvage operation brought the boat up, but when they began towing the boat towards the Moss Landing Harbor it began to break apart. The initial salvage operation was scrapped and the boat was salvaged in pieces. Investigators are still trying to determine who owns the boat.

Body Found in Henry Cowell State Park

So apparently around 7PM on Friday night, a “person was found dead along a trail in Henry Cowell State Park”. Where’s the news story? I’ve got nothing but this. Nothing but the facts. More than the mainstream news has reported so far. This is just so matter of fact, so lacking in reason, why, what happened. It’s like an everyday thing. Maybe it is and we just don’t know it. I eventually was able to determine the male was found about 100 feet down and off the Ox trail, and a blue truck was also located nearby.

Smashing Windows on Soquel

Friday morning around 5AM, I heard a report that someone smashed the front window of the Wells Fargo on Soquel and Thurber. It doesn’t sound like anyone was arrested or anything was actually stolen. But you have to figure a bank has security cameras pretty much everywhere, so there’s probably surveillance video of this. But I’ve heard nothing on the news about it.

Grifters Arrested at Airbnb on West Cliff Drive

Wednesday afternoon around 3PM, SCPD responded with multiple units to a home on the 500 block of West Cliff Drive for a disturbance involving a man and a woman. Apparently they trashed another Airbnb rental in San Jose which was managed by the same property manager and when they tried to pay with a stolen credit card, the property manager came to the location and got into it with them. Word I got is they have been going up and down the state committing identity theft, purchasing electronics and living it up with the stolen credit cards. They also had a rented Dodge Challenger that was towed away.

You Broke His Meth Pipe!

Friday morning around 3:30AM, a 39 year old male from Redondo Beach was found camping in Schwan Lake park in Santa Cruz. He resisted being handcuffed during an extended fight. He showed signs of narcotics intoxication and had a broken meth pipe in his pocket. He was arrested for resisting arrest and booked into the county jail, and referred to mental health for followup. He was in jail for 16 minutes before he as released. Arrested 11 times locally since 2013. Story of our lives.

Trouble in Paradise

Saturday night, Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a woman who was found inside an occupied residence in Paradise Park. The homeowner found the woman stealing stuff from inside the residence and physically restrained her until deputies arrived. She was arrested and booked into County Jail for residential burglary. I think she’s new to town. She’s been arrested locally twice this month, but nothing before that.

There’s a Biohazard 100 Times Worse We’re Ignoring

It’s called any number of things but I tend to call it “Camp Bernal”. It’s been leeching HAZMAT into the San Lorenzo River for months, with the apparent blessing of the city, the county, even the local environmental groups too afraid to bite the hand that feeds them. While cleaning up park areas used for illegal camping in Arana Gulch, Santa Cruz Police Department Rangers found a spot filled with trash, drug debris and other biohazards that can pollute the environment so they spent some time cleaning it up. Is that in their job description?

Bum Faceplants Behind Ferrell’s Donuts

Thursday night around 5PM, a report came in about a male beating up a woman behind Ferrell’s Donuts on the 2200 block of Mission. When SCPD arrived he jumped a fence but his clothes caught up in the barbed wire and he landed on his face before stumbling around inside the storage facility on Fair. SCPD spread out in the area to look for him. He was later spotted a few blocks away at Ingalls and Almar, where he was tased before they were able to finally arrest him. The victim needed medical attention for her injuries.

Seems a Common Way To Go

Rep. Jimmy Panetta Holds Town Hall in Santa Cruz

Boys Save Young Girl From Drowning on Santa Cruz Beach

Two brothers aged 10 and 7 are being recognized for helping to save a young girl from possibly drowning at Santa Maria beach off of 21st Avenue. The two boys were attending a birthday party and were playing in a lagoon when they saw a girl who looked like she might be drowning. They both swam over to the girl and carried her to safety. When the girl’s father rushed over, she began to cough up water but is expected to make a full recovery.

Vibrantly Honest

Check out the newest podcast on the Santa Mierda Podcast Network. “Vibrantly Honest” features a panel discussion with regular, recurring guests who discuss hot topics involving Santa Cruz.

The Santa Mierda Podcast Network

Be sure to check out the Santa Mierda Podcast Network! We’ve got the latest “Unfiltered” by yours truly, as well as a new podcast, “Untreated” from Sharona. You can find the Santa Mierda Podcast Network on SoundCloud. And Apple Music. And Spotify. It’s free so check it out and give it a listen! Next new podcast should be coming this Sunday night!

Check Out Our Twitter Feed for More Mierda!

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9 Comments

  1. Waffle house!!!! Ha ha

  2. Leopold! Lol But seriously, he’d make a good “Joker”

  3. It sounded like Henry Cowell victim was alive and placed the call to 911. Then went into cardiac arrest and another caller began CPR.

  4. clair u hangry, hungry plus angry

    such a joke. im glad the push back from residents is helping.. but there are real problems to be solved here and they are getting no attention! thank god for this website because everytime i pay another tax bill i need somewhere to vent lol.

    those 125 million hits are probably mostly from bay area residents who care about santa cruz. 5 million people in the immediate bay area and they have almost no beach access! the few crappy winding roads, the overcrowding, the pissed off locals (no offense lol) and then this massive crime! what is the point of living in california if the beach isnt safe or accessible?!

    oh but roll out the red carpet for chester the molester and his 80s mini van with the blacked out windows! that seattle video last week said heroin was decriminalized to the point someone could have THIRTY doses on them and it was not punishable. what is the difference between selling deadly addictive drugs or someone assaulting someone with a gun?

    why would the far left decriminalize deadly addictive illegal drugs but focus so much on trying to take away weapons that are legal by the constitution of the whole country? thats helping everyone way to go guys. residents should be able to protect their homes with the necessary force because the commies filled this place up with creepers on meth!!!

  5. This week’s Vibrantly Honest podcast was excellent Ben. I encourage everyone to have a listen. Thanks for all you do.
    The one a few weeks ago about the needle exchange (Sharona’s?) was also very enlightening.

  6. Debi Lauriguet-Kolar

    Thank you Ben for your direct, creative reporting of what is happening in Santa Cruz. I have been reading you since almost day 1 and appreciate your writing so much. I am additionally appreciative of you & your writing when you wrote about my husband & I on 1/6/17, when our home blew up and burned away. You participated in the community support that we are so thankful for.
    Santa Cruz is a community of great people.
    Thank you,
    Debi

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