San Diego Man Throws a Puppy at Police, Punches Female Cop… SWAT Team Responds

Union Trib – Two San Diego police officers were injured late Thursday night when they were assaulted by a man who also threw his dog at them as they responded to a noise complaint at his Pacific Beach apartment, prompting a nearly two-hour standoff during which he threatened to shoot officers, police said.

One of the officers suffered a broken nose, and his female colleague was punched on the side and back of the head, police Lt. Brian Goldberg said. She suffered a mild concussion. They were treated at a hospital.

Tyler Torres, 30, was arrested on suspicion of assault likely to produce great bodily injury and resisting arrest using violence, police Officer David Stafford said.

The incident began about 10:45 p.m. as the two officers were responding to a complaint of loud music at the unit at the sprawling Bay Pointe apartment complex on Ingraham Street, near La Playa Avenue.

When officers knocked on the door, they were confronted by a “hostile” man who threw his small dog at them as an apparent distraction, Goldberg said. Torres then attacked them, punching them around the face and the head, police said.

As one of the officers called for cover, Torres locked the door and said he was not coming out, Goldberg said. Officers swarmed to the area.

Thirty to 40 officers responded, including SWAT team members and police canine units, Goldberg said. Some apartments were evacuated as officers set up a perimeter and a negotiation team arrived. Patrol cars lined the street.

During the standoff, Torres came in and out of his apartment balcony, which faced a large interior courtyard. A police negotiator in the courtyard tried to talk to him and get him to surrender. But Torres refused and threatened to shoot police if they came to get him, Goldberg said. He did not display a gun, but at one point he threw a knife into the courtyard, Goldberg said.

“He had been drinking alcohol, and he seemed pretty agitated and fired up when we talked to him,” Goldberg said.

Torres was taken into custody about 12:30 a.m. Friday after officers fired nonlethal pepper-ball rounds at the balcony. Residents who had not been evacuated watched the incident unfold from a distance and said that Torres was swearing at officers and threatening them repeatedly.

Goldberg said that at one point, Torres yelled, “If you come inside my apartment, you’re going to meet my 9-millimeter.”

As officers brought him out of the building and placed him in a patrol car, dozens of people who had lined the street to watch the police activity clapped and cheered. Torres continued to yell at officers as they put him in the car.

John Cocozza, who lives nearby and was in the courtyard at the time, said Torres frequents a store where Cocozza works. He said the dog is a six-month-old Rottweiler.

Neighbors who were evacuated who did not want to be identified for their safety said that Torres lives alone, but said they did not know more about him.

Officers took the dog, who was not injured, out of the apartment after the incident. A gun was not found in the apartment, Goldberg said.

Tyler Torres… I’ve got a feeling your whole family’s going down. Lemme just get this out of the way… if you throw a 6-month-old puppy at anything, you deserve the chair. End of story. You throw it at the cops? You deserve a SWAT team ass-kicking, then the chair. You punch a female cop in the face after throwing the puppy at her? You deserve a SWAT team ass-kicking, 5 years in prison with the ‘sisters’, then the chair.

See what caused all this? A noise complaint. A few minutes later, puppies are being chucked, chicks are getting punched, 9mm death threats are thrown around, a standoff, a SWAT team ‘swarms the area’, and patrol cars have ‘lined the streets.’ I lived in Pacific Beach. Noise complaints are handed out like candy on Halloween. I gotta imagine the two cops that showed up for a routine noise complaint looked at each in Anchorman-esque shock… “Boy, that escalated quickly… I mean, that really got out of hand fast.”

This kind of thing will not be tolerated…not in my city. I will be closely monitoring the Tyler Torres situation. If the proper punishments are not handed out… I’ll keep you lobsters posted, and we’ll revisit taking matters into our own hands.

-bp

[Lobbed by Mac – and no, I don’t actually believe he deserves the chair, and no that is not the actual puppy that was thrown]

This entry was posted in News and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.