LOCAL : Anaheim Driver Wounded by Gunfire After Laguna Hills Traffic Pursuit
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An Anaheim man, stopped in Laguna Hills for driving erratically early this morning, was wounded by gunfire after he allegedly tried to run down several California Highway Patrol officers, law enforcement officials said.
Capt. Steve Malone, of the CHP’s San Juan Capistrano station, said the incident began when officers tried to stop Mario Michael Wiggins, 29, near El Toro Road. Officers called for a backup unit when he sped off and chased him to a parking lot near a residential construction area, investigators said. There, Wiggins got out and “was acting very bizarre,” said Lt. Richard J. Olson, of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. “He apparently began waving his arms around and started shouting. Then he jumped back into his car.”
Wiggins then sped forward, spun the car around and headed for the officers, according to their accounts. One of them leaped out of the way and sprained his ankle, Olson said.
Several of the officers fired their handguns, one of them hitting Wiggins once in the left arm, Olson said. Wiggins was taken to nearby Saddleback Community Hospital, but he resisted treatment, Olson said. He was then transferred to the jail ward of at Western Medical Center in Anaheim.
Olson said it did not appear that Wiggins was armed. Sheriff’s deputies are seeking court approval to search Wiggins’ impounded car for a weapon.
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