PACOIMA : Man Shot Trying to Flee Police

A Los Angeles police officer Thursday shot and wounded a man who crashed a stolen recreational vehicle into seven cars and injured another officer while attempting to flee, police said.

The shooting occurred about 1:30 a.m. in the 11200 block of Telfair Avenue in Pacoima, Detective Raul Reyna said.

Charles Parmenter, 39, was treated at Holy Cross Medical Center for a gunshot wound in the shoulder and arrested on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer, Reyna said.

Officer Bridget Avilas, 31, a three-year veteran of the department, suffered a broken rib when the recreational vehicle pinned her against a fence. She was treated at Northridge Hospital Medical Center and released.

The incident began when patrol officers saw a man driving the recreational vehicle, which they determined had been stolen, Reyna said.

When police tried to pull him over, he drove several blocks down Telfair but was trapped by patrol cars in a cul-de-sac, Reyna said.

The man tried to turn around and struck several cars--including a police vehicle--in the process, Reyna said.

Reyna said the driver then jumped out and confronted Officer David Peteque, 25, a three-year police veteran.

“Officer Peteque ordered him to raise his hands,” Reyna said, adding that when Parmenter tried to climb back into the vehicle, Peteque shot him once the shoulder.

Department policy allows officers to use deadly force to subdue fleeing suspects when there is “substantial risk that the person whose arrest is sought will cause death or serious bodily injury to others if apprehension is delayed,” according to a department spokesman.

Parmenter later admitted to being “under the influence of narcotics,” Reyna said.