San Benito County Sheriff deputies arrested a Watsonville man
for stripping off all his clothes, setting them alight and causing
a small grass fire and threatening to blow up a propane tank
Tuesday evening, according to police.
Hollister – San Benito County Sheriff deputies arrested a Watsonville man for stripping off all his clothes, setting them alight and causing a small grass fire and threatening to blow up a propane tank Tuesday evening, according to police.
Jose Maria Barajas, 40, was arrested for felony arson and misdemeanor indecent exposure and being under the influence of a controlled substance after he started the grass fire at Quantic Industries on San Juan/Hollister Road around 6pm, according to sheriff’s Lt. Pat Turturici.
Firefighters with the California Department of Forestry responded to the grass fire at Quantic Industries just moments before sheriff’s deputies received a call reporting that a naked man was leaning against a large propane tank with a lighter in one hand and a wooden club in the other in the 3000 block of San Juan/Hollister Road, Turturici said.
“He positioned his hands with the lighter and wooden club over the propane tank valve,” Turturici said. “It appeared his intentions were to break the valve and maybe ignite the propane tank with the lighter.”
Deputies called CDF to assist them for precautionary reasons, although firefighters were already in the area putting out the fire at Quantic Industries. After deputies repeatedly tried to coax Barajas away from the tank, they finally began advancing toward him. At that time, Barajas dropped the club but refused to drop the lighter, Turturici said.
Deputies were within approximately 20 feet of Barajas when they shot him with a Taser stun gun, which hit him in the back and right rear thigh, Turturici said. Barajas was incapacitated and deputies took the lighter away from him and placed him in custody without any further problems, he said.
After his arrest, Barajas told deputies he had burned his clothes. CDF firefighters confirmed they found a pile of burned clothes and a charred wallet belonging to Barajas after extinguishing the fire, Turturici said.
CDF Engineer Brice Muenzer said Department of Forestry firefighters, along with San Benito County volunteers and Hollister city firefighters responded to the area on San Juan/Hollister Road to put out two separate fires that burned about a quarter of an acre each. The fires, which took about five to 10 minutes to extinguish, were approximately a quarter of mile apart and Muenzer said they are still under investigation as to how they were started.
When deputies conducted interviews of witnesses after taking Barajas into custody, the woman living in the home Barajas was at told deputies the naked man asked her for some water and then took a bath in an aluminum water trough on her property, Turturici said. She saw Barajas pick up a hammer in one hand and a wooden club in the other, run over a hill, and then run back with only the wooden club in his possession. He then took his post at the propane tank, Turturici said.
Deputies transported Barajas to Hazel Hawkins Hospital, where medical personnel removed the Taser darts and determined he was under the influence of a controlled substance. He was then taken to the San Benito County Jail, where he is still in custody in lieu of $79,000, according to jail personnel.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected].
