Officers arrested a Lompoc man accused of driving while intoxicated with an illegal assault weapon and several rounds of ammunition in his truck, authorities announced Friday.
Bertin Diaz Pulido, 29, was booked into jail on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, transporting an assault rifle, challenging to fight, and resisting, obstructing or delaying an officer in the performance of his or her duties, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to the Sideways Inn in the small city Buellton after receiving a report of an intoxicated person trying to fight patrons at around 11 p.m. on Thursday, the agency said.
That individual fled before officers arrived, according to the Sheriff’s Office, but information provided by witnesses led them to believe the person to be Pulido, who had “several recent aggressive encounters with law enforcement.”
Authorities said they checked the route toward Pulido’s home in the 600 block of Mail Road in Lompoc, where they found a truck that matched the witnesses’ description.
Pulido, who was in the vehicle, sped away and did not yield to a deputy’s sirens, almost crashing into parked cars and driving off the roadway, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The man then stopped at a dead end, exited his truck and behaved aggressively toward the deputies while refusing their orders, authorities said.
He eventually complied and was detained, according to the agency. The officers then searched the truck and found an illegal AK-47 assault rifle, two loaded magazines, an additional handgun magazine and “dozens of rounds” of ammunition, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Officials provided no further information.