Desperate California man breaks IN to jail to avoid ICE agent

A California man fleeing an ICE agent scaled a jailhouse fence from the outside in a desperate bid to escape federal immigration authorities.

The agent had been attempting to apprehend Jonathan Cosme Antonio, 25, of Carpinteria, on Friday when the suspect raced away on foot and hopped a fence on the perimeter of the Main County Jail in Santa Barbara, police said.

He was later found hiding out between storage containers on the jail’s exterior.

The wild getaway attempt occurred as Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene of a vehicle blocking the entrance to its headquarters just after 8:30 a.m. on Friday.

A deputy arrived to find an ICE agent inside the vehicle who explained that he had been trying to nab Antonio when the suspect took off. Antonio had recently been released from custody for an unknown reason.

Deputies searched for the suspect and found him hiding, adding that he suffered an injury while falling to the ground from the fence.

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Antonio was taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries and was given a citation for trespassing, the sheriff’s office told The California Post.

According to the Santa Barbara Independent, the ICE vehicle had blocking the sheriff’s entrance after it crashed and began leaking fluid.

The outlet reported that the car was one of four ICE vehicles spotted at the scene along with multiple agents.

Witnesses described the unmarked ICE vehicle as driving fast during a pursuit before it lost control and ended up on the side of the road.

Another witness told the outlet that immigration agents had been seen several times in recent weeks near the jail.

The sheriff’s release noted that they aided in keeping the peace while ICE waited to have the vehicle towed. 

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Raquel Zick spoke to members of the media on the scene about the agency’s role in Friday’s incident.

“Basically, we just stood by while we cleared our driveway,” Zick said. “That’s the extent of our involvement.”

The outlet said numerous emergency personnel responded to the incident while sheriff deputies directed traffic.

The California Post has reached out to ICE and the DHS for further comment.