Local : Deputy Hangs On, Shoots Driver

A Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy hanging out the door of a moving pickup truck shot and wounded the driver, who was attempting to flee after deputies making a routine stop saw drug paraphernalia in the truck, authorities said today.

Deputies said the driver, Shane Crotts, 35, was later identified as an escapee from an Oregon jail. A woman with Crotts told deputies that he had raped her.

Crotts, who was shot in the stomach, arm and leg, was in satisfactory condition at Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills. Deputy Chris Wahla said Crotts was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and will also be charged with rape.

The incident began when two deputies, whose names were not disclosed, were on routine patrol in a rural canyon in Lake View Terrace and spotted the pickup on a roadway turnout at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. “It just didn’t feel right to them, what they saw,” Deputy Bonnie Newman said. “Many rapes have occurred there in the past.”

When the deputies ordered the man and woman out of the truck, they saw drug paraphernalia inside. As one of the deputies leaned through the passenger door to collect evidence, Crotts allegedly jumped into the truck and drove off, Wahla said.

“The deputy was hanging out of the truck and was being dragged on the ground,” Wahla said. “The deputy was able to draw his gun and fire at the suspect.”

Wahla said Crotts had escaped from an Oregon jail after an arrest on a sodomy charge; details about the location of the jail and when the escape occurred were not immediately available.