A suspect in an attempted sexual assault and kidnapping is in custody.
Santa Barbara police arrested Angel Anthony Richard Sanchez, 29, on Monday night. They say the attempted assault and kidnapping happened about 20 hours earlier on Sunday night.
A Santa Barbara woman was walking in the 3700 block of State Street when a man on a bicycle came up behind her and blocked her path. Officers say the man tried to talk to her briefly and led her to believe he had a weapon. Police say he then grabbed the woman’s cell phone out of her hand, threw it far away from her, and then pushed her to the ground. Police say he dragged her into a dimly lit corner of a nearby parking lot and attempted to sexually assault her.
A Good Samaritan was driving by at the time and heard the woman screaming. He drove his car towards the sound. The attacker was startled by the headlights and biked away. The Good Samaritan called police, who spoke to the woman. She was shaken up, but able to provide a good description of the attacker.
Police say Sanchez matched the description and was spotted the next day near the area where the attack happened. When officers told him who they were, they say he ran away from them. Officers eventually caught up with him and took him into custody. They say he tried to grab a knife from his waistband before he was taken into custody.
He was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail and could face charges of kidnapping to commit a sexual assault, assault to commit rape, false imprisonment, concealing a weapon on his person, and resisting officers.
