SMPD Officer Injured in Scuffle with Burglary Suspect

Santa Maria Police say Monday night at about 9:00pm a neighbor spotted a suspicious person outside a home on the 600 block of East Alvin Avenue that they believed to be unoccupied.

The neighbor who called 911 did not want to be identified on camera but tells Central Coast News she called a family member of the owner of the house to see if there was someone staying there.

When the answer was no, that’s when she and her husband called 911.

SMPD officers soon arrived on the scene and saw a suspect run from the house and across Alvin Avenue.

Police say one of the responding officers chased after the suspect and eventually got into a scuffle with 28 year old Derek Shelton of Arroyo Grande.

Police say the officer used his Taser to subdue Shelton before taking him into custody.

Another neighbor said he was home at the time but never heard or saw all of the commotion.

“We were just surprised that something like that would happen around here because its a quiet neighborhood”, says Anthony Nunez who lives next door to the house that was burglarized.

Santa Maria Police say Derek Shelton was not armed at the time of his arrest and has been charged with felony residential burglary and felony resisting arrest with the use of force.

Police are not releasing the name of the officer involved in the scuffle with Shelton but say he’s relatively new to the SMPD and was able to return to duty soon after the incident.