The Weekly Dump 7.16.21

The Santa Cruz Fire Chief Saves Us Again

This week, the Santa Cruz Fire Department issued an emergency order closing all off-trail, city-owned open spaces in an attempt to minimize fire risk. The spaces impacted by this order include the Pogonip, Sycamore Grove, Arana Gulch, Moore Creek, Arroyo Seco and the DeLaveaga Wilderness. City officials began issuing notices at homeless encampments, and sites will be cleared as early as this week. In the past six months, Santa Cruz Fire has responded to 25 different fire events in the city’s parks and open spaces. 24 of these fires were located in the Pogonip and Sycamore Grove areas, areas with large unregulated, homeless camps. The order will be in place until Santa Cruz gets enough rain to bring down the fire risk.

Leave it to the Fire Chief to rescue us once again! We can’t count on the city manager to do his job, we can’t count on the police chief to do his job, we can’t count on the city council to do their jobs. We get lots of pandering and excuses from them. But our Fire Chief rocks. He’s the same one who saved us from the festering and toxic “Camp Bernal” that created a massive HAZMAT site behind the Gateway Center, welcoming all the tourists to Santa Cruz with our idiot compassion and lack of spine.

Woman Stabbed to Death in Watsonville

Watsonville Police are investigating a murder after a woman was stabbed to death inside an apartment complex on the 300 block of Clifford Avenue last week. Watsonville Police responded to the location around 7PM after someone called 911 saying their mom was just murdered. Two people were suspected of being a involved, a male and a female driver. Watsonville Police seemed to have a prime suspect, and I heard he was recently caught in Mexico waiting extradition back to the US on the murder charge. The same guy was arrested back in 2014 for making death threats against an ex-girlfriend.

The Usual Madness at the Metro

SCPD responded to the Santa Cruz Metro on Wednesday morning around 10AM after locating a woman they had been searching for. Multiple units ended up responding after things went south and the woman went ballistic on police when they tried to arrest her. Eventually she was arrested after creating a huge scene and waking up anyone in earshot who might be sleeping.

High Speed Chase Ends Poorly Off Ocean Street

Just after midnight on Thursday morning , SCPD was alerted by the Sheriff’s office that deputies were involved in a car chase that might be headed towards the city of Santa Cruz. After the suspected vehicle reached unsafe speeds on local streets, the deputies in pursuit terminated the chase. Shortly after, the suspected vehicle plowed into cars on a side street off of Ocean. Witnesses reported seeing 4-5 males fleeing the scene running down Market Street towards Water Street. As far as I know, nobody was arrested.

Making St. Francis Cry

Tuesday around noon, SCPD responded to the St Francis Soup Kitchen after getting a report of a male who was threatening people with a gun. Witnesses reported seeing him leave the area and walk towards River Street heading Downtown. By the time police arrived, the suspect was gone and nobody was arrested.

Darwin’s Law

Saturday afternoon around 4PM, SCPD responded to the 100 block of Darwin Street after getting reports about a male stealing stuff from someone’s back yard. SCPD responded and eventually arrested a guy for possibly stealing a black Land Rover. He was arrested for burglary and car theft and taken to county jail. His bail was increased to $50K and last check he’s still in jail.

The Jail Didn’t Want Him Either

Sunday morning around 7AM, SCPD responded to the 400 block of Beach Street after getting reports about someone who was drunk and refusing to leave. They eventually arrested a 25 year old male and charged him with assault, refusing to leave private property, and being drunk in public. He wasn’t in jail for long since he got a “PTA” aka a “Get Out of Jail Free Card”.

Lacking Repercussions

Monday afternoon around 4:30PM, SCPD responded to the 200 block of Broadway after getting reports of a man trying to break into a home. Neighbors reported the man was banging on windows and trying to smash open the door of a home on Broadway. Sunday he was arrested for shoplifting from Trader Joe’s, but obviously he wasn’t really punished for that. Or this apparently! Couldn’t find any record of his arrest.

Brawling at the Blue Lagoon

Physical fight between a male and 3 women. Blue Lagoon. Friday night around midnight. Security broke it up initially but apparently they took it outside. Nobody was arrested.

Bad Decisions Lead to 16 Years in Prison

A Ben Lomond woman was sentenced to 16 years in prison this week after she was convicted of multiple felony charges, including assault with a deadly weapon on two Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies. Back in 2018, Santa Cruz deputies contacted Lowe and another person, and she was arrested during an investigation into stolen property. After she was arrested, she managed to slip out of her handcuffs, get into the driver’s seat of one of the patrol cars and intentionally drive into a deputy and another person. The deputy was hit, and the other deputy at the scene responded by shooting the woman, hitting her three times in the chest. Despite being shot, she continued driving and attempted to hit both deputies with the stolen patrol car. When other members of law enforcement responded to the scene, she surrendered.

The Magic Bus Has Left the Station

Around 12:30AM on Saturday morning, SCPD was flagged down by someone at the Metro station for a person in some kind of distress. They found a guy in his fifties who was apparently very agitated and complained about taking too much acid. When they arrived, the suspected high flyer took off running.

Just Another Downtown Bum Fight

Monday around 5PM, SCPD responded to the city owned Lot 9 parking lot at Elm and Pacific after getting reports of a possible assault with a deadly weapon. When they arrived, they found a victim with his face bleeding and beat up. Fire and medics responded to look at his injuries but the victim was uncooperative and no suspect was arrested.

Drunk Smashes Up King Street 

Around 2AM on Saturday morning, SCPD responded to the 200 block of King Street after getting reports that someone had plowed into a number of vehicles that were parked along the street. At least one neighbor who called in reported his vehicle was hit. The suspected vehicle left the scene, apparently with significant front end damage, but was not located and nobody was arrested.

Possible Home Invasion on Westside

Monday night around 10PM, SCPD responded to the 400 block of Alta near Fair after getting reports of a possible home invasion. A woman had apparently arrived home to find someone she didn’t know in her house. SCPD arrived and set up a perimeter around the block, and despite a pretty large response including a K9, nobody was found at the residence or arrested.

Mentally Incontinent

This past week, that asshole from San Jose was deemed mentally competent to stand trial for his laundry list of charges. The 39 year old man, whose name I refuse to say here, faces numerous misdemeanors and municipal infractions related to his anti-mask activities in and around Santa Cruz in the past year, including allegations from May of obstructing or intimidating business operators or customers, trespassing and petty theft at the New Leaf Community Markets on Fair Avenue. He regularly posts live videos on social media featuring his opposition to COVID-19 health and safety mandates. At his arraignment hearing on June 30th, Judge Nancy de la Peña ordered him held without bail and appointed two experts to determine his mental capacity to face criminal charges.

Wednesday morning, Judge Syda Cogliati declared him competent to face charges, while his small legion of mentally challenged groupies heckled, applauded and prayed during the court hearing. Cogliati ordered him to be released from jail under supervision. Public court attendees watched the hearing from a different courtroom, located on the other side of the courthouse from where Wednesday’s hearing took place. Bailiffs told the crowd that they had been put in a different room from the regular court proceedings because of their disruptive behavior at the previous hearing. Cogliati ordered the man to not drive unless his vehicle was registered and had license plates, to obey lawful orders issued by police and to stay away from New Leaf, Moran Beach, Trader Joe’s on Front Street and Twin Lakes State Beach. He also was ordered not to possess stolen property and told he would be subject to search and seizure at any time, with or without a warrant. Hey, at least dumbshit spent two weeks getting to know the inside of the Santa Cruz Jail. I’ll take what I can get here. His preliminary hearing has been set for 9 AM on July 23rd.

Get Your Swagger On!

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10 Comments

  1. We are fucked.

  2. So whats the deal with a local judge issuing a 2 week no bail mental hold for people protesting masks?
    Somebody must have promoted the idea that this guy was nuts in order to have a judge rule that. Obviously, they were wrong as two court appointed expert examiners disagreed. Oh well. I hadn’t read anything else about this guy except for his public protests against mask wearing, which didn’t seem that odd for Santa Cruz.

    But I think its great that Santa Cruz is finally willing to determine who is sane after being arrested for protesting now. Let’s examine Robert Norse and Keith McHenry too. This will be real fun to watch when the UCSC students return this fall.

    • He was arrested for having something like 30 outstanding tickets and not for protesting. And the fastest way to get banned here is to start throwing around a race card. You’ve been warned. Your last paragraph had absolutely nothing to do with anything I said here so it got moderated. Keep that shit to yourself. I don’t need a pissing match in my comments.

  3. The woman that was stabbed to death in Watsonville Was the daughter of a good friend of 30 years, I’ve known the daughter since she was a toddler. The Monster that murdered her was arrested in 1-2021 for domestic violence while he was on parole for domestic. Sheriff Hart apparently cut him loose probably because of covid. There are monsters among us, better hope they don’t come knocking at your door

  4. Hey I am a young man interested in joining the SC Police force. Have you ever talked to any officers about what its like to work in Santa Cruz? I have hesitancy to join because of the revolving door that you cover.

  5. Pat Kittle

    So the bums are being temporarily evicted from our greenbelt (“Pogonip, Sycamore Grove, Arana Gulch, Moore Creek, Arroyo Seco and the DeLaveaga Wilderness”).

    It’s illegal to camp there permanently! Unfortunately, the bums have no respect for these beautiful places. If they at least acted in good faith to limit their impact it would be easier to feel sorry for them. But we know how trashy they are when they’re easily visible around town.

    The fact is they are far more disgusting camping off-trail in the greenbelt. And a lot of them use the greenbelt as their base of operations for crimes they commit in town — such burglary & bicycle theft.

    Criminals should be made to do community work — such as cleaning up their own messes, for starters.

    • City Insider

      I agree! A people even knew half of what the parks and recreation apartment have to deal with they would realize something seriously wrong in this town

  6. City Insider

    Sorry for all of my typos!

  7. MuyDeplorable

    Ben: Not sure whether this is OT or not: Santa Cruz makes national political news! It seems that Hunter Biden’s art dealer was locally arrested in 1998, and charged with assult with a deadly weapon and terrorist threats. The news article did not say what became of that; maybe the charges were dismissed. Of course, another possibility is that the news is mistaken. Anyway, it seems that we have gone downscale in the intervening years, with that sort of activity no longer the venue of well-connected art dealers.

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