Officer Shoots at Fleeing Car
A San Diego police officer fired five shots at a fleeing car after its driver, a suspected auto thief, tried to run him down in South San Diego on Monday.
Officer Dexter Wittman began pursuing the suspected stolen car shortly before 8:30 a.m., police said.
Wittman followed the car as it pulled into the parking lot of a condominium complex on Tocayo Avenue at Oro Vista Road. When the driver saw that Wittman had gotten out of his patrol car, he turned the car and began driving toward the officer, police said. Wittman was unable to get out of the way, and the car ran over his right foot. He wasn’t hurt.
Wittman fired five shots at the car as it drove away, shattering the rear window but not injuring the driver or the passenger.
The car, which had been stolen in Chula Vista on Monday morning, was found abandoned less than a mile from the scene of the shooting. Victor Romero, 18, was found hiding in some bushes nearby and was arrested on suspicion of auto theft.
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