Deputies arrested a 40-year-old Santa Barbara man late Thursday night after a multi-day search that began when he allegedly backed his BMW into a deputy’s patrol vehicle and fled, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
The incident began Tuesday, April 21, 2026, around 6:05 p.m., when deputies responded to the Patterson Place Apartments for a report of a suspicious person inside a vehicle.
During the initial contact, the suspect—identified as Anthony Torres-Lopez Jr.—deliberately reversed into the deputy’s patrol car, then accelerated over a sidewalk and along a pedestrian walkway around the complex before striking a raised curb, the Sheriff’s Office said. He abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot…