A man is in custody after authorities said he dragged a deputy with his car during an attempted arrest in Ventura.

The suspect was identified as Bryan Ismael Torres, 30, from Ventura, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. 

At the time, he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest. On Aug. 13, deputies spotted Torres at a gas station at around 8:30 p.m.

Authorities approached Torres and attempted to arrest him but he refused to cooperate, deputies said. He got back into his car and drove away while deputies were still trying to take him into custody. 

As the suspect sped off, “he dragged one of the deputies from his vehicle a distance through the gas station parking lot” before escaping, authorities said.

The deputy was transported to a local hospital for injury treatment. His wounds were non-life-threatening, officials confirmed.

The Ventura Police Department arrived at the scene and took over the investigation. The next day, officers located Torres in Oxnard where he was taken into custody.

He was arrested on charges of assault with a deadly weapon, resisting an executive officer and the initial outstanding Post Release Offender Status felony warrant.

He is being held on $10,000 bail. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for Aug. 16 at Ventura County Superior Court.

The incident remains under investigation. Anyone with information on the case is encouraged to call Ventura Police Detective Stephanie Avila at 805-339-4478.

A 30-year-old man in San Bernardino County has been arrested it was discovered had nearly 3,000 files of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), authorities announced Thursday.  

Investigators with the Redlands Police Department arrested Bradley Clarence Peck on Aug. 13 near his home in the 13300 block of First Avenue in Victorville.  

After receiving two cyber tips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, detectives served a search warrant at his residence, recovering numerous electronic devices containing more than 2,950 of CSAM, a Redland PD news release stated.  

Authorities determined that the 30-year-old, who works for a company with locations in Redlands and Rancho Cucamonga, used a KIK messenger app to upload the illicit material in approximately 20 transactions with other users.  

“Peck sold the images through KIK and other online apps in exchange for Amazon gift cards and cash transactions to his PayPal and Cash App accounts,” the release noted.  

Peck was booked at the Central Detention Center in San Bernardino and released on $30,000 bail.  

“This investigation is part of an ongoing operation by the Internet Crimes Against Children’s regional task force known as Online Guardian 2.0 to crack down on the sexual exploitation of children online. The regional task force includes law enforcement agencies from San Bernardino, Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties,” authorities said. 

Anyone with information regarding this investigation is encouraged to contact Redlands Police Dispatch at 909-798-7681, ext. 1.  

Comedian Brody Stevens was known for loudly and proudly representing the San Fernando Valley to the point that “818 ’til I die!” became a catchphrase of his.

But Stevens, who died by suicide in 2019 after nearly a decade of publicly dealing with bipolar disorder and depression, was wrong.

His love of the Valley continues to live on through his friends in the comedy community, as his death beget Brodyfest — aka the Brody Stevens Festival of Friendship — which will celebrate the “Hangover” actor on Aug. 17 and 18.

Those days were chosen in homage the 818 area code cherished by Stevens, a relentless optimist known for his outsized personality on stage and kindness off it.

Not only will there be a walk in the Valley, but comedians like Jay Mohr, Byron Bowers, Eleanor Kerrigan and Doug Benson will perform at the Comedy Store, a regular haunt of Stevens, and a softball game will nod to Stevens’ baseball-playing days in the Valley and at Arizona State.

This weekend marks the fourth annual edition of the event, which is raising money Comedy Gives Back, a nonprofit that helps comics with mental health, chemical dependency, health care and financial issues.

In a statement, Comedy Gives Back said that “losing Brody pushed us even further to get our services and support out to every comic.”

“We are the safety net of the comedy community, and we want to ensure that continues by helping put on Brodyfest, by attending all of the comedy festivals around the country, by showing up to comedy clubs,” the statement said. “Being alone onstage is part of the job. Feeling alone off stage is unacceptable.”

While Stevens may not have been a household name, he was a favorite of fellow comedians, punctuating his jokes with relentless positivity for himself and others, including the crowds at his shows. His unorthodox act included motivational asides for himself (“YES! POSITIVE PUSH!”) and instructions for his audience (“Come on, you gotta give me a chuckle based on cadence alone!”).

“Brody’s material was not as important as his presence onstage,” friend and collaborator Zach Galifianakis told The Hollywood Reporter. “He would challenge the audience. He would turn on them and judge them. He would ask for laughs when he was not doing well, and it confused some people because, well, who does that?”

Stevens did, using his ability to “read people’s energy very quick” to identify crowd members who he felt were displaying negative body language or not laughing hard enough at his jokes, said his friend and fellow comedian Bowers.

“He loved entertaining people, but at a different level,” Bowers said. “His show was crazy. It was inclusive and it was about getting your energy up, where you want to be.”

Off stage, Stevens, Bowers and other “Comedy Store guys” would motivate each other and provide moral support while trying to ascend in a challenging industry with no union protections, “crazy” living situations and sometimes spending more to perform than the performance itself pays, Bowers said.

That said, there’s a therapeutic aspect to talking about your struggles in front of an audience and with those going through similar situations.

“Fortunately for Brody and myself and the other comedians, we have a place where we can go talk about whatever we’re going through and make it in a way that people support it,” he said.

Brodyfest begins Saturday with a check-in at 1 p.m., followed by the walk at 2 p.m. and softball game at 5 p.m., among other events. For information and tickets for Saturday’s events, click here.

On Sunday, the 818 Comedy show begins at 8 p.m.For tickets, click here.