Sheriff: Grover Beach man arrested after roadside standoff with deputies near Guadalupe
A more-than-hour-long standoff with San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office deputies ended Tuesday after a Grover Beach man suspected of driving the wrong way down Highway 1 as he attempted to evade law enforcement was taken into custody.
According to a Sheriff’s Office news release, deputies were initially dispatched to a fight in Oceano at approximately 11:45 a.m.
While en route, witnesses reported that one of the men who had been involved in the fight got into a vehicle and left the scene, the release said.
Deputies caught up to the vehicle as it was “driving erratically on Highway 1 and at times was driving on the wrong side of the road,” the Sheriff’s Office said.
Deputies tried to stop the car in Oceano, but it failed to yield, so a pursuit began, according to the release.
The Sheriff’s Office said it coordinated with California Highway Patrol to deploy a spike strip near Guadalupe, which then disabled the car near West Main Street and Simas Road.
After the car was stopped, the driver — identified as 43-year-old Jacob Epifanio Lopez of Grover Beach — repeatedly ignored commands to exit the vehicle, the release said.
“The Sheriff’s Crisis Negotiation Team responded and spoke with the suspect for more than an hour but he still refused to leave the vehicle,” the release said.
Deputies then deployed pepper balls into the vehicle to force Lopez from the car, the Sheriff’s Office said. When Lopez exited, he was arrested on suspicion of charges of reckless driving, failure to yield to law enforcement, evading arrest and resisting arrest, according to the release.
As of Tuesday evening, Lopez was not listed as in custody on the Sheriff’s Office’s Who’s in Custody website.
This story was originally published April 9, 2024 at 5:57 PM.
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