Westminster : Man Jailed in Stabbing of Off-Duty Officer

Police have arrested a Los Angeles man described as the “prime suspect” in the Jan. 28 stabbing of an off-duty Westminster police sergeant.

Steven Anthony Gutierrez, 20, was arrested Friday night near the intersection of Chestnut and Plaza streets, Sgt. Warren O’Neill said. Gutierrez is being held in the County Jail on suspicion of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon in connection with the stabbing of Sgt. Charles Russell Miller, 50. Bail has been set at $100,000.

According to reports, the incident began when Miller’s son, Michael Dean Miller, 25, was driving along Olympus Street and someone in another car threw a bottle at his car. Miller wrote down the license plate and drove home. The other car, containing four people, followed.

At home, the younger Miller awakened his father. A fight subsequently broke out in front of the Miller home, in which Charles Miller was stabbed, Michael Miller sustained several scrapes and Gutierrez suffered a minor head wound.

Charles Miller underwent surgery at Fountain Valley Hospital to repair intestinal damage and has since been released, a hospital spokeswoman said Friday.

Gutierrez and three other suspects were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and attempted murder shortly after the incident, but were released because of insufficient evidence, police said.