Anonymous
Source: Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office
At approximately 2:00 p.m. yesterday, January 11, 2019, the Community Resource Deputy and Isla Vista Foot Patrol deputies were doing community outreach to the homeless population to provide information about shelter services due to the impending inclement weather expected.
While in Pelican Park located in the 6500 block of Del Playa Drive, they also contacted a transient about littering in the park. The subject, who was later identified as being 32-year-old Drew Wohlenhaus, refused to provide his name and became agitated. Deputies attempted to calm him down and get him to provide his name and date of birth for a citation.
Wohlenhaus refused to cooperate with the citation and attempted to walk away from deputies. Deputies attempted to detain Wohlenhaus and he became combative. Wohlenhaus tackled one of the deputies and all subjects fell to the ground during the struggle.
During the struggle to arrest Wohlenhaus, he bit one of the deputies on the shoulder and kicked another in the face. Wohlenhaus grabbed the gun of one of the deputies and attempted to forcefully remove it from the holster. The deputy had to fight to maintain control of his gun as the other deputy deployed his taser in an effort to prevent further injury and gain control of Wohlenhaus.
Deputies were able to broadcast an “officer needs assistance” request over the radio and responding officers were able to assist deputies in arresting Wohlenhaus. Luckily, none of the officers sustained injuries that required medical attention. Wohlenhaus was not injured in the incident and declined medical attention.
Wohlenhaus was medically checked at the jail and a mental health request was made. Wohlenhaus was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail for battery on two peace officers and attempted murder of a peace officer. Wohlenhaus is being held on one million dollars bail.
Smug mug.
That look on his face…creepy.
Dude…that guy has no idea what’s ahead of him.
Yikes he went for it. Maybe he’s tired of being homeless and was looking for a place to stay? Jail will be warm, dry, showers, meals…
bleeding hearts=no idea.
I don’t know the answer, but it isn’t making Santa Barbara a Mecca for dysfunctionals. “Build it and they will come,.”–but how to handle a huge federal problem on a small local level??
Those Isla Vista Foot Patrol deputies are definitely not “PEACE OFFICERS.” That Young man’s life is ruined.
The passive/aggressive nature of cops.
Go from “outreach” to harassing a guy is troubled. Ticket him and go for more after he walks off. “Hey! You didn’t obey us!” This all turns into a Key Stone Cop debacle. Thanks for the one-sided and exaggerated police report.
These “young urban travelers” are always frightening, as they seem to enjoy being aggressive. I don’t have any sympathy for this clown.
While i agree with you about iv police being over the top, this man needs some serious help. Check his multiple facebooks, he has at least 6 and posts on all of them constantly about tigers killing his viewers, the “blue and white,” that pneumonia kills all Facebook users, etc.
Nasty street drugs mess with your head.
Better reread it. They couldn’t ticket him because he refused to give his name and birth date. They tried to calm him and became combative upon leaving……I guess you don’t realize it’s not OK to just walk away and refuse police orders. Most places other than here he would have been shot first rather than tased. He was lucky…. protocol for someone trying take an officers’ weapon is easily lethal force.
He ruined his own life.
Don’t say I have no idea I have a compassionate heart but I know dangerous when I see it this guy is scary.
Let’s hope he wasn’t one of the mental health cases that have been camping at Ellwood, Coal Oil Preserve and UCSB South parcel. Or maybe we should hope is was one, now that he is locked up. The campers leave trash and worse and yell at visitors to “Go away”. Their toilet paper is blown unto the trails. They have built encampments on the mesa top, midway to the beach along the bluffs and on the beach.
I heard about those campers at Ellwood no one likes to venture there they sound dangerous reports of screaming and such.
And a normal reaction is to attack the cops like he did? Glad it was them he went psycho on and not some 18 year old college kid that may not have been able to defend themselves. This guy proved he’s dangerous, whatever his underlying issues are…
Why didn’t the SBSO just have him pick up the trash ……to cite a transient thinking they can pay the fine is a fools errand….we need some common sense approaches. This situation should have never escalated to this point.
Thanks GOP for cutting the funding needed to keep people from getting the mental care they need. Seeing that this is foot patrol, they were likely hassling him about the littering and pushed it too far.