Suspect takes a dip to avoid arrest

ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Rather than give himself up to Santa Barbara police, a suspicious suspect who officers were questioning about a disturbance involving a knife dashed across the sand along East Cabrillo Boulevard and dove into the ocean Monday night, authorities said.

With a report of a man brandishing a knife at another man in the 600 block of East Cabrillo Boulevard, Officer David Anduri spotted a man in the sand near the edge of the bike path as he canvassed the area, Police Spokesman Lt. Paul McCaffrey said. After the man denied involvement in the disturbance and provided a false name, he bolted toward the ocean with two officers in tow.
"The suspect ran across the beach, dove headlong into the surf, and swam just beyond the breaking swells," McCaffrey said. "There the suspect remained, treading water, and refusing to return to shore and give himself up."
After about 20 minutes in the chilly water, the man, identified later as Humberto Ortiz Cortez, 40, climbed quietly into a waiting Harbor Patrol boat and surrendered to authorities, McCaffrey said. When taken to Cottage Hospital, Cortez provided more false names and acted combatively, he added.
"The reason Cortez fled appears to be that he was wanted for parole violation and had warrants for auto theft and burglary," McCaffrey said.
Officers booked him for those violations as well as resisting arrest and falsely identifying himself, authorities said, and he is being held without bail.
"Ironically," McCaffrey noted, "Cortez was not the suspect involved in the original disturbance call."