San Diego

A man arrested on suspicion of murder early Friday beat a police officer before being subdued by her partner, San Diego police said.

Michael Pearson, 25, was booked into County Jail on suspicion of murdering Kenneth Paul Ruga, 43, a corporate pilot who lived at the apartment complex where Pearson was arrested.

Ruga was found nude and had been stabbed several times in the head.

Police spokesman Bill Robinson gave this account of the incident:

Officers Catherine Decker, 26, and Joseph Ramos, 31, answered a call of a burglary in progress in a third-floor apartment in the 2900 block of Laurel Street shortly after 1 a.m.

“Ramos covered the outside underneath the balcony, where he saw the suspect hiding,” Robinson said. “Ramos identified himself and told the guy to stay put, but the guy ran to the interior of the apartment.”

Decker “had assumed a position near the front door when the guy suddenly burst out and began attacking her. She received lacerations to her left eye and she radioed for cover, but when Ramos arrived the suspect had escaped,” Robinson said.

“Ramos chased him down the stairs and found him hiding under a car in the complex parking lot. When Ramos tried to take him into custody, the suspect attacked him, but Ramos was able to overcome the resistance,” he said.

When other officers arrived shortly after the scuffle, they found Ruga’s body in the apartment.

Decker, a 3-year veteran of the force, was treated at Mercy Hospital for a cut over her left eye and released, Robinson said.