Fugitive Transient Shot in Scuffle With Police

A transient wanted by authorities for parole violations was wounded in North Hollywood when a patrol officer accidentally fired his gun as the two men wrestled following a foot chase, Los Angeles police said Monday.

Herbert Wageman, 35, was in stable condition Monday at North Hollywood Medical Center, Detective Bill Holcomb said. Wageman was shot near the right armpit about 4:45 p.m. Friday while resisting arrest by Officers Scott Rate, 24, and Timothy Walters, 26, Holcomb said.

The pursuit began after the officers noticed Wageman picking through a trash bin behind a gasoline station at 5957 Vineland Ave. and recognized him because a warrant had been issued for his arrest, Holcomb said.

Wageman was wanted because he had failed to keep appointments with his parole officer and apparently had been using drugs, both violations of the conditions of his parole, Holcomb said. Holcomb declined to disclose Wageman’s arrest record.

Wageman ran when the officers ordered him to put up his hands and led them on a foot chase into a nearby residential neighborhood and to a house in the 6000 block of Ensign Avenue. Rate caught up with Wageman at a wooden gate and accidentally fired his department-issue, 9-millimeter pistol during a struggle, Holcomb said.

Rate, a three-year department veteran, and Walters, a 2 1/2-year veteran, will remain on active duty while an investigation continues, Holcomb said.