The State - News from Sept. 27, 1988

Authorities said a Newport Beach man led officers on an 80-mile chase, then fired a rifle at them before they shot and killed him near Fortuna on the Northern California coast. California Highway Patrol Capt. Don Spencer said James Wesly Hines III, 36, died shortly after the shootout on Sunday afternoon. Officers tried for more than two hours to stop Hines after police in Willits, in neighboring Mendocino County, reported that a man in a small van had fired a weapon at a gas station and then had driven north on U.S. 101, Spencer said. Authorities stopped the van just outside Fortuna by deflating its tires with a “spike strip” of hollow rubber spikes. CHP officers told the driver to get out of the van. Hines, however, stuck a rifle out the window and fired several rounds toward an open field, Spencer said. “Then he turned the gun toward the officers and fired a round that struck the window of one of the patrol cars,” he said. Officers fired back with revolvers and shotguns, hitting Hines “numerous” times in the head and neck.