CHP Responds to Man on 101 Throwing Rocks at Cars

California Highway Patrol officers arrested a man early Tuesday morning who was reportedly running across Highway 101 and throwing rocks at cars.

According to a CHP spokesperson, multiple people at around 3:00 a.m. reported seeing the man – 40-year-old Silvano Perez of Sebastopol – on northbound lanes near El Capitan State Beach lobbing stones at passing vehicles. As a patrol car approached Perez, he allegedly threw several large pieces of asphalt at it. Officers ordered Perez to put down the other chunks of asphalt he was holding, but he instead held them above his head and threw one at the officers.

After a brief struggle, said the spokesperson, Perez was taken into custody. He was transported to Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital for routine medical clearance, and eventually booked into Santa Barbara County Jail. The incident is under investigation.