Officer Kills Suspect After Freeway Chase
A Long Beach officer shot and killed a man who led police on a high-speed chase and rammed a patrol car with his car Wednesday, authorities said.
No officers were hurt in the incident, which occurred at about 12:30 a.m., Detective Dennis Robbins said.
The chase began about five minutes earlier when uniformed reserve officers Eli Moreno and Robert Harm saw a Volkswagen speeding in front of them on the southbound Long Beach Freeway, going at least 75 m.p.h.
As the car left the freeway at Broadway the officers tried to stop the driver to issue a traffic citation, Robbins said. A license check also showed the car had been reported stolen in Seal Beach.
The driver fled but eventually hit the curb at 7th Street and Orizaba Avenue, Robbins said. The officers stopped behind the car and the driver backed up and rammed the passenger side of the police car, he said.
Seconds later the suspect reached over to his side, and Moreno, who was on the passenger side “feared the suspect was obtaining a weapon and fired one shot,” Robbins said.
The man, who was not immediately identified, died a short time later at St. Mary Medical Center.
No gun was found in the suspect’s car.
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