Officer Injured in Fight After Shooting to Protect His Partner

A plainclothes Los Angeles police officer trying to stop a brawl in a Granada Hills parking lot Tuesday night was injured defending his partner from a man lunging at him with an ax, police said.

Officer William Vaughan Jr., 33, suffered a blow to the head after he fired his service revolver at the ax-wielding man, who has not been caught, Lt. Rick Violano said. He said investigators do not know if Vaughan’s bullet hit the assailant.

Vaughan and his partner, Officer Alec Distaso, 38, were working undercover shortly after 9 p.m. when they spotted 20 to 30 people fighting in a shopping mall parking lot at Balboa Boulevard and Midwood Drive, Violano said.

Sought Uniformed Officers

They first called for uniformed officers but tried to stop the fight themselves after seeing that one of the fighters carried a baseball bat and another an ax, the lieutenant said.

Vaughan chased the man with the ax but momentarily lost him, Violano said. As Distaso tried to handcuff the man with the baseball bat, another man jumped him from behind, and the man with the ax reappeared, the lieutenant said.

Vaughan, who was standing a few feet away, fired as he saw the man approach Distaso from behind with the ax raised, Violano said.

No One Arrested

Vaughan was hit from behind by a third assailant after firing the shot, Violano said. The crowd then dispersed, and no one was arrested, he said.

Vaughan collapsed shortly after returning to Devonshire Division and was listed in fair condition, possibly with a concussion, the lieutenant said, at a local hospital that police declined to name.

The cause of the melee is unclear, he said. Some members of the crowd were from Granada Hills and Northridge, others were from San Fernando, but they were not believed to be street-gang members, he said, noting that the bat, ax and some wooden sticks were the only weapons seen.