12-hour confrontation with knife-wielding man near Dodge College ends in arrest

A 33-year-old man was arrested at about 6 a.m. Monday after a DUI collision led to a pursuit in which the man waved a knife at officers and then barricaded himself in his apartment for 12 hours, said Orange Police Department Sgt. Jennifer Amat. 

The apartment where the man barricaded himself, located on the 200 block of South Lemon Street, is less than half a mile from the Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.

The man, Christian Nava Reyes, will be booked in the Orange County Jail for assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, brandishing – or waving – a weapon and felony evading, Amat said. Reyes was treated by paramedics for “non-life threatening injuries” after a police dog injured him.

Amat was not able to confirm the specific injuries Reyes sustained.

The pursuit began at the 600 block of South Glassell Street at about 5:45 p.m. on Sunday after police responded to a DUI collision investigation. Reyes appeared intoxicated, Amat said, and got back into his car and drove away.

The subject then abandoned his vehicle at the 200 block of South Lemon Street, where he proceeded to barricade himself in his apartment. The Orange Police Department SWAT team and crisis negotiators responded, Amat said. She could not confirm how many SWAT team members were at the scene.

Reyes “refused all offers to surrender,” according to a press release from the Orange Police Department. Amat said that officers used chemical agents and other tactics to get Reyes out of the residence, and that officers were eventually able to enter the apartment and remove him.

Angie Skelton, a sophomore business major, was driving to a meeting with a friend when she noticed that Lemon Street, which is next to the street where she lives, was blocked off. Skelton chose to stay the night at a friend’s house because she was worried about the situation escalating during the night.

“I didn’t want to wake up at 3 a.m. to chaos or something crazy,” Skelton said. 

Amat said that while she does not know the exact number, the police department evacuated most of the people in the complex where the confrontation took place. She said that there were American Red Cross tents at the scene to assist people who could not re-enter their residences during the confrontation.

Leah De Leon contributed to this report.