Man Arrested After Pursuit Near Watsonville

WATSONVILLE, CA — A man who was in a 40-hour standoff with officers in Salinas earlier this year was arrested again near Watsonville on Tuesday morning after leading police, Santa Cruz County sheriff's deputies and a California Highway Patrol aircraft crew on a pursuit.

CHP officers saw a white Cadillac on Carlton Road that they recognized as being associated with 31-year-old Augustin Leon-Palomares, who had an active felony warrant for allegedly using his car to pin a woman in
her vehicle last week, CHP officials said.

When the officers tried to stop the vehicle, Leon-Palomares allegedly sped off through a dirt road and into a field before getting out of the car and running into a creek.

CHP officers arrested Leon-Palomares around 11 a.m. at Thompson and Carlton roads and took him to a hospital, where he was checked before being booked into Santa Cruz County Jail at around 3 p.m.

Leon-Palomares was booked on suspicion of six felonies including kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, stalking and vehicle theft, CHP officers said.

The 31-year-old man was on probation for his earlier convictions of auto theft, stalking, terrorist threats and vandalism. In February, Leon-Palomares was arrested by Salinas police, sheriff's deputies and U.S. Marshals Service deputies for allegedly making terrorist threats, being a felon in possession with a weapon and domestic violence, Salinas police said.

Authorities had been looking for the suspect two months earlier on warrants out of Santa Cruz and Monterey counties, police said.

By Bay City News

Photo courtesy Renee Schiavone/ Patch