Local News in Brief : Driver Fires at Deputy

A driver approached by a sheriff’s patrol car in Bellflower early Tuesday opened fire on the deputy, blasting out the patrol car’s windows, officials said.

Deputy Brian Hessler, 27, who was not injured in the incident, was on routine patrol in the parking lot of Bryun Zinn Park at 3:45 a.m. when he spotted two men parked in a car, a spokesman said. As the deputy drove toward the car, it began moving away. The deputy pulled up window-to-window with the driver’s side of the car when the suspect opened fire.

“Fortunately, as soon as the revolver came up, (the deputy) was able to prone himself out, reached up, threw the car into reverse, hit the gas pedal and flew away. When he popped up, the suspect was out of there,” the spokesman said.

Hessler, a three-year veteran, was not injured by the shots that blew out all of the windows of the patrol car except the windshield. The suspect’s car was described as a light colored, 1960s American-made two-door.