Shots Fired at CHP Officer; 3 Newhall Men Arrested

Three men were in jail Sunday after they shot at a California Highway Patrol officer as he sat in his patrol car in Newhall Saturday night, authorities said.

The shots missed the patrol car, and the men were arrested a few minutes later by the officer and several CHP officers and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies who heard his call for help, Sgt. David Taplin of the Sheriff’s Department said.

The officer was unharmed.

The three men--Margarito Leyva, 27; Victor Espinoza, 21, and Alfredo Pellares, 33, all of Newhall--were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and were being held without bail at the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station, Taplin said.

The CHP officer, who was not identified, heard four to five gunshots while he was parked in his patrol car on the shoulder of the southbound Sierra Highway half a mile south of San Fernando Road about 9:30 p.m., Taplin said.

The officer saw muzzle flashes coming from the driver’s side of a blue pickup truck occupied by three men, and chased the truck while he radioed for assistance, Taplin said. The three were arrested six minutes later at Arch Street and San Fernando Road in Newhall, he said.

Taplin said a .25-caliber semiautomatic pistol was found in the suspects’ truck. He said the motive for the shooting is unknown.

On Sunday evening, a South Lake Tahoe man was arrested after he pointed a gun at a woman driver on Interstate 5 in Castaic, Sgt. Charles Lane of the Sheriff’s Department said. Richard Culver, 25, was arrested at 6:30 p.m. after the woman pulled over at the Hasley Canyon exit and called the CHP.

Police said they found a loaded 9-millimeter handgun in Culver’s van after he was stopped by sheriff’s deputies and the CHP near the Tejon CHP substation. He was traveling with his 3-year-old child, police said.

Culver was arrested on suspicion of carrying a loaded firearm in his car, Lane said. Bail was set at $1,000, but Culver was released since there was no one else to care for the child, Lane said.

The woman driver was not injured.

In an effort to curb the spate of highway violence, Gov. George Deukmejian Saturday proposed spending $27 million to hire 150 CHP officers and another $2 million for overtime pay.

The governor said that, since June, 119 incidents of freeway violence have been reported statewide, killing four people.