Release Date/Time: 8/25/2014 12:42 PM
Incident: Armed Man, Under the Influence
Report #: 14-081123
Date: Sunday, 8/24/2014
Time: 2:30 PM
Location: Natividad Medical Center
Officers were dispatched to the area of Argentine Dr and Bardin Rd after callers reported a man acting strangely. The man was claiming that someone was trying to kill him and he was being chased by a subject with a rifle. The man began jumping fences through the residential area until the callers lost sight of him. The man eventually reappeared and was seen entering a green sedan. The witness told dispatch it appeared the man, later identified as Antonio Vidal Abundez Acosta (30) had carjacked the driver of the sedan. A short time later, officers located the vehicle in the Natividad Medical Center parking lot near the Mental Health Unit. A high-risk stop was conducted because officers believed this was a carjacking suspect. The driver was detained without incident and it was discovered that this man had been flagged down by Acosta near Bardin Rd. When Acosta told the driver he was being chased, the man agreed to drive him to safety. While driving away, the citizen realized that something was not quite right with Acosta so he drove to NMC and Acosta exited his car.
While officers were talking to the driver, NMC security called dispatch reporting a man with a gun was inside the hospital and threatening suicide. Acosta had run into the hospital and had a metallic object in his hand. The hospital was ordered to be locked down and numerous SPD officers and deputies from MCSO entered the facility to search for Acosta. After a lengthy search, officers could hear Acosta in a stairwell. He was screaming and striking the walls with the metal object. CIT (Critical Incident Training) Officers and officers from the Hostage Negotiation Team tried to establish dialog with Acosta from inside the stairwell. As this was occurring, NMC security called dispatch advising that none of the guards actually saw Acosta with a gun and that they did not believe he had one. Once contact was made with Acosta, officers told him to slowly walk down the stairs to them. Instead, Acosta ran down two flights of stairs and rushed the officers while still holding the metal object in his hand. Several officers were in place with both lethal and less-lethal options. The first officer to encounter Acosta could clearly see that the object in his hand was some sort of pipe with a wheel attached and not a firearm. The officer deployed his Tasers and Acosta fell to the ground where he was taken into custody without further incident. The object Acosta had been holding was a mechanical part from a pneumatic door closer assembly that Acosta had broken off a door in the hospital. The shape of the part was similar to a pistol. Acosta was not injured during the arrest but one officer sustained a slight sprain to a knee while searching multiple stairwells.
Officers eventually determined that Acosta was under the influence of narcotics. After being medically cleared, he was booked into the Monterey County Jail for several charges including being under the influence.
Release Authorized by: Sheldon Bryan
Telephone: (831) 758-7250