DATE: December 26, 2024 / 3:17 a.m.
SUBJECT: Assault on a Police Officer / Resisting Arrest
LOCATION: 100 block Bottlebrush Circle, Oxnard
SUSPECT: James Yuot, 43-year-old Oxnard resident
CONTACT: Gregory Harasymowycz, Commander
(805) 385-7600 (Wed-Sat 6 a.m. – 4 p.m)
gregory.harasymowycz@oxnardpd.org
On December 26, 2024, at approximately 3:17 a.m., the Oxnard Police Department dispatch center received a call regarding a suspicious subject, later identified as 43-year-old James Yuot, carrying a large metal pole, and a fixed blade landscape scythe who was walking in the area of Sixth Street and "C" Street.
While officers were checking the area for the subject, several additional residents reported that the subject was swinging the metal pole at passing vehicles in the area of Fifth Street and Ventura Road. Officers located Yuot walking in the area and attempted to contact him. Yuot walked away from officers, eventually brandishing the metal pole and charging at multiple police vehicles, nearly striking the officers and police vehicles with the metal pole. Yuot fled from officers into the 100 block of Bottlebrush Circle, where he again ran towards officers, swinging the pole at them. Officers deployed a less-lethal shotgun; however, Yuot fled into the backyard of a nearby residence. Officers secured the residence's occupants and contacted Yuot in the backyard. Yuot continued to be non-compliant, and a Conducted Electrical Weapon ("Taser") was utilized to take Yuot into custody.
Yuot was arrested, medically cleared, and booked at the Ventura County Sheriff's Department jail facility. Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to contact the Oxnard Police Department at (805) 385-7600.