(Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s deputies Brian Erbe and April Skalland lead a wheel chair-bound Isaias Aguilar of Watsonville out of Superior Court in Santa Cruz Thursday morning following an arraignment. Aguilar is facing numerous charges, including attacking a Watsonville Police officer with two large kitchen knives which led an officer to shoot him. Photo by Tarmo Hannula/Pajaronian)
WATSONVILLE — The man who was shot by a Watsonville Police officer after charging the officer with a kitchen knife pleaded not guilty Thursday during his first court appearance.
Isaias Aguilar, 22, is being held in lieu of $75,000 bail on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest. He also faces charges that he assaulted a family member.
He faces seven years in prison if convicted, Santa Cruz County Assistant District Attorney Kristina Oven said.
Aguilar was booked into Santa Cruz County Jail Tuesday after his release from a hospital. He made his court appearance in a wheelchair, and is receiving medical care while in jail, Oven said.
The officer who shot Aguilar was placed on administrative leave on Aug. 15 and has since returned to full duty while the DA continues its investigation.
The incident began on Aug. 15 when police received a call from a family that a man in their residence was under the influence of drugs, hallucinating and armed with two knives.
Aguilar was not at the home when the officer arrived. About 30 minutes later police responded to a call for a man with a similar description who was in the intersection of Main Street and Ohlone Parkway, throwing rocks at vehicles and charging them.
Aguilar, who was holding two kitchen knives, charged an arriving officer and came “within feet” of him, Oven said, before the officer shot Aguilar once in the abdomen.
The officer, identified as Matt Williams, was not injured. He was placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation.
Oven said the case is unusual in that several witnesses saw Aguilar running in and out of traffic and charge the officer, after police tried unsuccessfully to corral him to a safer place.
Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Timothy Volkmann denied a request from Oven to raise Aguilar’s bail to $150,000, saying that two judges have already ruled on the issue.
“He was certainly a danger to himself and the community,” Oven said. “In the end he left the officer no choice.”
