Trancas Standoff Jarred Even the Most Filming-Jaded Locals

Photo credit, David Avila
CRIME SCENE—One of the three armored vehicles and some of the SWAT team members ringed the driver of the truck who led a police chase from Oxnard to Malibu, ending in a Trancas area cul-de-sac.

Photo credit, David Avila
SCENE—Blood-soaked bandages and IV bags littered the scene after last week’s standoff.

• Car Chase Involved Armored Tanks, Helicopters and SWAT Crews Armed with Tasers

BY HANS LAETZ

Malibu High School locked its gates, armored vehicles raced with lights-and-sirens on through Malibu, and a Zuma Beach neighborhood was turned into a police zone last week, when an Oxnard man held police off for two hours in a tense standoff.

A national TV audience watched Ruben Marin, 46, take Oxnard Police officers on a pursuit from Ventura to Malibu, only to turn up a dead-end street Thursday morning. Residents taking out the trash or attending their dogs suddenly found themselves in the potential line of fire and were commanded to take cover.

School officials, not knowing the nature of the incident but seeing a fleet of helicopters orbiting the area, locked the gates and cancelled off-campus lunch periods.

The two-hour standoff ended when SWAT team officers fired at least five 40-millimeter beanbag shells into the truck’s windows to shatter them, and dragged the bleeding man out of the vehicle in the cul de sac. Marin suffered chest wounds from the beanbags, and self-inflicted knife wounds to his throat.

The incident had begun shortly after 8 a.m. when Ventura Police motorcycle officers spotted Marin’s truck pulling out of a motel and he refused an order to pull over, said Oxnard police Cmdr. Scott Hebert.

Oxnard Police officers picked up the pursuit when Marin exited the 101 freeway at Oxnard Boulevard, and headed down Highway 1 past Point Mugu. The chase reached speeds of 80 miles per hour, police said, as the truck sped through the curves along Pacific Coast Highway.

As the chase passed Leo Carrillo Beach, California Highway Patrol and Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office patrol cars swung in behind the Oxnard units.

After running into heavier traffic at Trancas, Marin drove up several side streets and ended up cornered in the 6400 block of Surfside Way, a dead-end street. Residents scrambled for cover as Oxnard police officers pointed their guns at the truck and shouted instructions via loudspeaker.

Residents took cover behind masonry walls or went out their backyard gates, as police communicated with Marin in the truck. “He was talking to our sergeant over the cell phone, and to his son,” Hebert said. “But he refused to give up.”

Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office deputies brought in three armored vehicles and used them to pin the compact truck in, as SWAT officers took up positions behind walls and in nearby houses. Seeing that, the man started to cut himself with a large knife.

“We used a Taser to get him to stop the knifing, and then we dragged him out of the truck,” Hebert said. “Once he took action, we felt it important to go in and prevent him from injuring himself.

L.A. sheriff’s paramedics, who had flown into the area by helicopter, immediately began lifesaving efforts. Marin was flown to an undisclosed hospital and was in serious but stable condition with self-inflicted cuts and some trauma from the beanbags and shattered glass, officers said.

Surfside Way residents were allowed to re-enter the area about four hours after the incident began.

Marin might face a mandatory third felony strike sentence of 25-years-to-life if convicted on an existing felony spousal abuse charge, or a new felony fleeing charge that he faces, police said.