Inmate Escapes From Custody at Santa Barbara County Courthouse

A Santa Barbara County Jail inmate is back in custody after a brief escape Thursday morning from deputies at the Santa Barbara Courthouse.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s office says 41-year-old Christian Otey, from Santa Barbara, was being unloaded from a Sheriff’s Transportation Unit bus when he escaped from his handcuffs by using a jail-made instrument. He then slipped between a security door and the bus, and jumped a fence.

Otey stripped off some of his jail issued clothing as he ran away. Otey made it to the 300 block of East Carrillo Street where he was taken back into custody.

The Sheriff’s office says Otey was originally arrested on November 17, 2014 by the Santa Barbara Police Department and was charged with battery against a non-cohabitating partner as well as an out-of-country warrant for probable/willful harm to a child.

Other charges include: assault with a deadly weapon other than firearm or force likely to produce great bodily injury, inflicting corporal injury on a spouse/ex-spouse or a child’s parent, and disorderly conduct in public while under the influence of alcohol.

Otey is now also charged with escape from jail and resisting/obstructing a public officer.