Anonymous
Update by Santa Barbara Police Department
5:30 p.m., January 6, 2022
Around 1:30pm, the subject that unlawfully entered the home near the area of Verano Drive and San Martin Way was safely taken into custody without incident.
SBPD Crisis Negotiators, who work in collaboration with the Santa Barbara County’s Behavioral Science Unit Manager, attempted dozens of times to communicate with the suspect in hopes of him surrendering. All forms of verbal communication failed, and the suspect refused all requests from law enforcement.
At one point prior to arrest, the suspect had armed himself with a wine bottle. The home fortunately had large glass windows that provided Officers a clear view into the residence where they were able to monitor most of the subject’s actions. Once the suspect had disarmed himself of the wine bottle, SWAT members entered the home to take the suspect into custody. A search and arrest warrant was authorized prior to entry.
The suspect, identified as German Hernandez Jr., a 27-year-old transient was arrested in a bedroom on the second level of the home. During the arrest, Hernandez Jr. resisted and spat at Officers.
Hernandez Jr. was not injured but was transported to Cottage Hospital Emergency Room for a medical clearance and evaluation. Once medically cleared, Hernandez Jr. was taken to Santa Barbara County Jail and booked for Committing a Felony while out on Bail (felony), Burglary (felony), Looting During a State of Emergency (felony), Resisting Arrest (misdemeanor), and Prowling (misdemeanor). He was booked on $75,000 bail.
Hernandez Jr. had just been released from jail yesterday for a similar incident that occurred in the County of Santa Barbara earlier this week.
The reason Hernandez Jr. entered the home is still under investigation and is not known at this time.
The family dog was found safe in the house and was reunited with their owners.
The roads were re-opened shortly after the incident had concluded.
Officers arresting the suspect (Photo: SBPD)
Update by Santa Barbara Police Department
12:50 p.m., January 6, 2022
On January 6, 2022, around 09:21am, the Santa Barbara Police Combined Communications Center received a report about a burglary in progress from a resident in the area of Verano Drive and San Martin Way. The resident informed dispatchers that her and her younger daughter had locked themselves in an upstairs bathroom and a subject unknown to them was still inside the home.
Multiple officers responded to the area and were able to safely extricate the residents from a second story bathroom window using a fire department ladder.
It is believed there is one male suspect inside the residence at this time and he is refusing all verbal commands to exit the home. A perimeter has been established and SWAT, Crisis Negotiation Team, and County Mental Health are currently on scene.
It is believed there is no threat to the public at this time. Santa Barbara Police are asking everyone to please avoid the area. Road closures are in place and no pedestrians or vehicles will be allowed in the area. There is no threat to any of the schools in the area.
This situation is currently unfolding. No further information at this time.
Road closures include; Verano Dr & La Colina Rd., San Martin Way & Rosario Dr., and Verano Dr. & Primavera Rd.
By an edhat reader
10:39 a.m., January 6, 2022
Hearing a large Sheriff Deputy response on the scanner on San Martin Way, off Highway 154 in the unincorporated SB area.
Something about a burglary suspect being barricaded or hiding. Streets are closed in the area.
Photo by Scanner Andrew
CA law: Any person using force intended or likely to cause death or great bodily injury within his or her residence shall be presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily injury to self, family, or a member of the household when that force is used against another person, not a member of the family or household, who unlawfully and forcibly enters or has unlawfully and forcibly entered the residence and the person using the force knew or had reason to believe that an unlawful and forcible entry occurred. As used in this section, great bodily injury means a significant or substantial physical injury.
ConservativeSB: I’m no legal eagle, but pretty sure that you’d be justified to do as you propose. If not, there’s no jury on earth who’d convict for said defense of your home and family. At the end of the day, you want to be the one living and breathing, not the naked guys and thieves who want to sneak in our homes all the time for God only knows what.
GRABBER – interesting. So, would just the mere fact that someone unlawfully (without permission basically) entered a home, you could kill them? Do you have a citation for that? I feel like there’s a lot of exceptions. Be interesting to see how “unlawfully and forcibly” is interpreted. I think the key is “forcibly.” Just walking into a house, unless the door is locked and needs to be broken in some way, is not necessarily “forcibly,” even though it is “unlawfully.”
COAST – I actually agree 100% with you here. A naked guy making cereal hardly warrants a SWAT response.
You’re right Sac. The family should just abandon their home to him
If this happened to me I’d have a semi lethal weapon in hand and be looking to use it. I’m thinking a baseball bat.
Take a look at noozhawk, the perpetrator was not responding to a frickin’ swat team right outside!
And some of you think the victims and/or police were being overly cautious? C’mon man!! What the hell would you be thinking I’d that was your family??
CONSERVATIVE – there are more options than shooting and killing an unarmed, clearly mentally disabled person who walks into your home and makes cereal and “abandoning” your home to the person. Life doesn’t need to be all or nothing black or white. Must be hard for you living like that.
BASIC – I have a bag full of softball bats and a long pointy stick…. I’d remove him easily and without killing him. Thing is, this was a daughter and her mother. If it were my wife and one of my daughers, I’d hope they did the same thing – exit the house safely. But, for a whole swat team? Nah, send in a couple cops with K9s and batons. The dude was naked, not dressed like an insurrectionist.
cool Conservative. Then you will be doing hard time for murder while your kid grows up with 1 parent. smart move….
Grabber. Nifty cut/paste there. This doesn’t apply.
there was no assault. No attempted assault. No threats. Nothing other than a mentally ill man being “lost” and got naked. he is clearly unstable and needs psychiatric help. There was no force either…good lord you folks sure are drama queens on edhat
A bat is a deadly weapon when used as a weapon. You and Sac thinking you’re using “less than lethal force” when hitting someone with a bat are sorely mistaken.
Coast…do you work for the PD? Do you work with K9’s? Do you handle K9’s? I do and am a trainer. Sorry, but thats not how it works and releasing a K9 on a man that is mentally unstable and hasn’t harmed anyone will just put the officer in a bad spot. the guy needs mental health help, not a malinois on his crotch.
BC, wrong. There is no justification in this situation for someone to murder this man. you are very wrong, because i would convict him in a heartbeat for murder. a jury would easily convict him for murder. I certainly would and if i think this way, others do too.
I can’t believe the people here that, based on their comments, feel that an unvaccinated person is a bigger threat to their family than a deranged naked man who forced his way into your house while with your wife and daughter were home alone (and wife in the shower!). You guys are so cocooned in your progressive SB echo chamber you’ve completely lost touch with reality.
ZeroHawk: Irregardless of how one feels, the bottom line in such a scenario would be a live/breathing home defender and a former naked kook whose last meal wuz a bowl of Fruity Pebbles…which actually do not contain any fruit.
I get it Voice, you disagree with Sacjon on multiple topics. But no one but you is comparing the threat of a home intruder with the threat of unvaccinated persons. Doing so is nonsense.
I agree Ahchoo, it is complete nonsense how some commenters here feel more threatened by the unvaxxed than a naked intruder in the house alone with your wife and kid.
Sac, even if you hit someone in the leg or butt with a bat, it’s still a deadly weapon, and aside from a self defense situation, would still be considered assault with a deadly weapon.
If a homeless man enters my house and gets naked when I am home alone with my daughter… LE will be getting him out of my house via coroner
Guessing he wasn’t armed…but likely full of drugs. Terrifying for the woman & child for sure. So, what was the grand finale?
Grand finale is tomorrow when he is released under Emergency Rules and zero bail
He will be out by the end of the day.
CONSERVATIVE – and you’d be going to jail. Shooting (presumably as we all know your love of guns) a clearly unarmed (if he’s naked without a holster) person who walks into your home, is likely unjustifiable unless they’re attacking you or putting your life in danger. Naked homeless guy? Come on….
Looks like the dude has a major boundary problem. Or maybe he’s just a socially inept fan of modern architecture.
Come on people this is going too far our paid very well paid or way overpaid leaders are supposed to be taken care of us and they’re not doing squat -happens every day booking release and reoffend very dangerous we need to hold all the leaders accountable and lock them up and not the police ( their doing as good a job as they can in this clown show)
Awwww, how touching, a “houseless neighbor” found a place to call home! Had enough yet?
A side note.
Laws vary from state to state. For example in Texas you can pursue and use deadly force outside your home and into the street to protect or recover stolen property which is why the TX felony threshold of $2500 is higher that CA at $990
Unfortunately for the neighbor, his or her life is is your hands.
Call 911, but if you are being prevented from calling or facing off against aggression that is or may escalate into physical violence you may protect yourself and family by any means available to you.
You should be very clear in your commands so that the people upthread who may be on the jury don’t send you to prison.
If a man I don’t invite in comes into my house while I am in the shower (naked) and my daughter is home and HE gets naked, what do you suppose I think might be about to happen in his mind?
VOICE – if you hit someone with a bat in the leg to remove them from your house, it’s not “assault with a deadly weapon,” it’s self defense. Ask Kyle about self defense. If you think he had the right, why don’t I have the right using NON-lethal force to defend my home and family? Methinks you don’t really know the law as much as you pretend to.
SMH… Sac, again, please re-read my comment for a better understanding. It was a single sentence, and you still missed it.
OK, since I know this will not stop, let me clarify. No, I cannot hit a naked man with a bat if he’s just wandered in and making cereal (nor did I say I would). I CAN, however, use the bat if my family is there and he’s threatening them in some way. So, again VOICE….. it’s a grey area. You have to move away from the black and white world, especially when trying to spout some “law” at us. The law is FAR from black and white. There are exceptions to laws and the circumstances of each case are different. You assume when I said I have a bag of bats that I would beat him. That’s an assumption and you know what assumptions do…..
VOICE – yup, I missed the “aside from self defense.” Pre-coffee, my bad.
BC yeah that stuff is nasty….false advertisement on the fruit part too. they do supply the “loops”. Sorry maam….still not justification for taking a life. The guy needs mental health assistance, not a bullet. we are not above anyone, not even him. we are all equal and deserve fairness. do you think ANYONE would do what he did in a clear mental state and having no cognitive issues? we are not in the wild west. i get it. it’s messed up, no one is debating this. but to end his life? we are not judges juries and executioners. this is america. this is santa barbara. let’s all try to be a tad more compassionate please….lives matter. he had a childhood. a mom and dad that probably loved him. he experienced similar things as you and I did growing up. he is just as human as you or i.
Criminal law isn’t my specialty but I believe is a person breaks into your own, naked or not, you automatically have a reasonable fear for the safety of you and your family and are the justices in use of leather force, bat or gun doesn’t matter.
VOICE – It all depends on the circumstances. If someone just walks into your house, you can’t attack them with a bat. If they break in forcibly, then you have an automatic “fear of safety.” Still though, it depends on the circumstances and how you use the bat. Poking at someone with it is one thing, swing full force at their head is another.
“leather force?” Sounds kinky Voice…..lol
VOR, did someone actually say that? Or is that just one of the voices in your head?
This needs to be investigated. Obviously, in this case, this man shouldn’t have been released. Why was he? Was it a Covid thing? Was it a left wing let everybody out thing? I think that a clarifying statement from the sheriff is needed and an investigation started.