So this happened.... as we say in today's vernacular: One of our tactical photojournalists was sitting very conspicuously in the Mc Donald's parking lot Wednesday night. While working on a post about a body discovered on the Richards Blvd. off ramp, he observed two Yolo County Sheriff's units roll quickly into the south end of the parking lot and stop crosswise across the parking spaces against the building. The following video is what he witnessed next:
In all appearances, two Yolo County Deputies just came over the county line and dumped a transient person from their county, right into downtown Sacramento.
After the deputies got back in their rigs, shut their doors and zoomed off back to Yolo, our team member asked the man why the deputies just dumped him off in the Mc Donald's parking lot.
We knew there had to be more to the story, so we reached out to the Yolo County Sheriff's office for an explanation, which is as follows in it's entirety:
Last night, shortly after 10:30pm, deputies were dispatched to a suspicious persons call in the area of South River Road, north of the town of Clarksburg. The reporting party was concerned about trespassing and possible vandalism to a nearby water pump. About an hour later deputies located the individual depicted in the photograph you provided. This man indicated he was travelling from the Midwest, had been in the Sacramento area for over a week, and was unfamiliar with the area. The area where the man was contacted is rural and void of any type of services. The subject requested a ride back to Sacramento and asked to be dropped off where he could find some food (he was offered money from the deputies but declined as he had his own).
We understand the appearance this activity had. Unfortunately, this individual inadvertently made his way into a very rural area of unincorporated Yolo County leaving him without options. The man was not found to meet the criteria for an involuntary detention due to his mental health challenges and providing him and his belongings with a transport into an area nearby services was determined to be the best solution at the time.
Lieutenant Matthew Davis
Yolo County Sheriff’s Office