Deputy Richard Wyatt testified that he remembered hearing his partner telling somebody to drop a knife, before he saw Carl Wayne Pruett emerge from behind some bushes swinging a large blade.
As Wyatt scuttled backward and readied his Taser, he said he thought to put a barrier between himself and Pruett while he confronted the suspect near Canyon Springs Community Elementary School.
“I was in fear,” Wyatt said on the stand, according to the July 30 minute order for Pruett’s preliminary hearing in San Fernando at the L.A. County Superior Court’s Department E. “He was going to cut me with a machete.”
Judge Pamela Usher held Pruett to answer to two counts out of three possible felony charges at his hearing.
Both of the allegations stemmed from the Feb. 1, 2024, afternoon confrontation Wyatt described in his testimony, which precipitated an hourslong standoff at Pruett’s Plumwood Avenue home in Canyon Country.
Two deputies initially were flagged down by nearby residents who saw Pruett walking down the street with what was described as “a sword,” in a search warrant associated with the investigation. Pruett exited the property and walked toward deputies while “screaming incoherently and waving the machete at deputies while ignoring orders to stop,” according to court records.
Wyatt described seeing the black, foot-long blade raised by the defendant, who got within about 12 feet of Wyatt, before the deputy deployed his Taser. His use of the Taser coordinated with his partner as he approached the call, he said. He would handle the less-lethal approach and the other deputy would be prepared if needed with lethal force.
Ultimately, Wyatt’s Taser was ineffective against Pruett, who removed the two projectiles from the Taser and then went back inside his house, saying he has guns, according to statements made by officials in support of a request to search his home.
Pruett refused to comply with the deputies’ orders for Pruett to leave, so the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Special Enforcement Bureau was called to the scene. Those deputies took him into custody sometime before 8:30 p.m. Feb. 1.
Usher dismissed the third count against Pruett, which was related to an accusation that Pruett reached over the counter at the Vision Eye Center in Canyon Country and stole a woman’s phone while she was working there, on Oct. 25, 2023.
The charge was based on the victim’s description, which was not followed up with a positive identification of Pruett. The investigator was shown security footage that showed a man matching Pruett’s description, but the judge agreed that fell short of a positive identification by the officer, and there was no subsequent suspect lineup. The attorney also claimed investigators failed to prove the value of the iPhone 14 Pro constituted grand theft.
Pruett remains in custody and is due back in court to file a plea to both charges on Aug. 18.
Since his arrest, the city of Santa Clarita has moved to put his Plumwood home, which is next to the elementary school, in a receivership, due to an ongoing code enforcement case.
The property was littered with trash and other miscellaneous items during the standoff. The city and Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station deputies have reported numerous problems at the property.
In the aftermath of the standoff, neighbors said Pruett was a widower, describing him as somewhat of a recluse. The yard at the Plumwood home was lined with shopping carts at the time.
Pruett has had several run-ins with local law enforcement in recent years, including a 2016 standoff at the home, according to Sheriff’s Department records available online.
