It was 10:45 a.m. Wednesday and Jake Carrier, 25, a fisherman for Huli Cat Sportfishing in Pillar Point Harbor, was heading out of his house to run some errands.
As he got inside his truck parked in the driveway at 471 Coronado Ave. in El Granada, Carrier said he heard sirens and figured it was an accident somewhere nearby.
“I sat in my truck for a few minutes and was turning some music on when I realized the sirens were directly behind me,” he said.
Two San Mateo County Sheriff deputies got out of their vehicles and ordered Carrier to get out of his car.
“One had an assault rifle, the other a pistol, pointing right at me,” said Carrier, who immediately knew what was happening. They thought he was Sammy Turner, who was wanted by law enforcement officials for shooting his best friend in the stomach Monday.
“I tried telling them I was the neighbor and that they had the wrong guy,” said Carrier. "They didn't ask for my ID."
But the deputies didn’t take any chances. They put Carrier on the ground, searched, and handcuffed him.
He was then placed in the Sheriff's vehicle, from where he then witnessed police apprehending the young man they really came for: Sammy Turner, who had returned to his El Granada apartment after eluding police in a standoff that lasted for hours on Tuesday.
After Turner was taken away, an officer let Carrier out of the police vehicle and took the handcuffs off.
"They took my personal information, but didn't ask me any questions about Sam or the situation," said Carrier. "One of the officers apologized and told me that someone had called this morning anonymously and thought I was Sammy or maybe they saw Sammy come back, I don’t know,” said Carrier, who adds that he's not angry with the officers.
“I get it,” he said. “They're doing their job. I’m just glad I wasn’t Tasered or anything like that. I just went along with them so nothing crazy would happen, but kept saying, ‘I’m the neighbor. I’m the neighbor.’”
Carrier is, however, upset with the circumstance. He doesn't know Turner but since moving to the area from Tahoe in May 2012, Carrier says he has since seen a lot of people coming and going all hours of the day and night from the apartment next door where Turner grew up.
“The police told us we had to sleep somewhere else last night because of the situation with this kid,” said Carrier. "He probably jumped my fence to get back in his apartment sometime last night or this morning,” said Carrier, who returned home Wednesday around 7 a.m. after spending the night at a friend’s house.
“It’s been an ordeal. I never thought that I’d ever be held at gunpoint in my own street, though.”
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