Police Pursuit Ends in Driver-Inflicted Stabbing

After a CHP motorcycle officer pulled over a vehicle on Wednesday in a routine traffic stop along Highway 101 northbound at the Fairview off-ramp, another driver in a Ford truck swerved into the right shoulder, nearly hitting the officer and the original violator.

When the Ford driver — David Rosales Medina, 37, of Goleta — fled the scene, the officer pursued him through the City of Goleta and parts of northbound Highway 101 to Medina’s residence. As Medina neared his home, he stabbed himself repeatedly in the chest and neck with a knife before stopping his vehicle outside of his home, where he continued to stab himself in the throat despite the officer’s orders to drop the knife and exit the Ford.

The officer used a taser to stop Medina. Additional officers provided medical care to Medina until Santa Barbara County Fire and American Medical Response (AMA) arrived at the scene. AMA transported Medina to Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital. He will be booked into Santa Barbara County Jail once he is release.