Man who Caused 5-Hour Standoff in Laguna Beach Gets 2 Years

A 42-year-old Carson man involved in a five-hour standoff with Laguna Beach police following a five-vehicle collision pleaded guilty today to multiple felonies and was immediately sentenced to two years in prison.

Edward Ernest Uribe had been involved in a five-vehicle collision about 5:20 p.m. Feb. 6, 2013 on Pacific Coast Highway at Vista Del Sol, according to Laguna Beach police Sgt. Louise Callus. Witnesses told police he was driving recklessly from the Dana Point area, she added.

As officers arrived at the crash scene, Uribe was in a Mustang involved in the collision and witnesses told police he had a gun on his lap, Callus said.

Officers tried to get Uribe out of the car, but he refused and during the initial contact with him, an officer fired a round, hitting the vehicle, but Uribe was unhurt, Callus said.

Uribe told police his vehicle would explode if they pulled on the car door, Callus said. This prompted police to back off, and Uribe remained in his vehicle for hours, Callus said.

Orange County Sheriff's Department bomb squad investigators and SWAT officers responded to the standoff, Callus said.

SWAT officers had to help a paramedic team in an armored vehicle respond to the crash to help a 70-year-old man involved in the crash, Callus said.

Also, a Laguna Beach police officer had to help get a medical team through the area from Crown Valley Parkway to Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach to deliver an organ, Callus said.

About 9:15 p.m., officers fired tear gas into the Mustang, but Uribe did not come out for another 30 minutes, Callus said. When he did, he collapsed onto the sidewalk and was taken to Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach for treatment, Callus said.

Uribe has been in custody since his arrest the day of the collision.

Police recovered a .22-caliber handgun in the vehicle, Callus said.

Uribe pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm by a felon, a prohibited person owning ammunition, possession of a controlled substance, carrying a loaded unregistered gun in public, a convicted felon carrying a concealed gun in a vehicle, all felonies, and misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest and exhibiting a firearm capable of being concealed.

One count each of bringing a controlled substance in jail and falsely reporting the planting of a bomb, both felonies, were dismissed.

--City News Service