NEWBURY PARK : D.A. Clears Deputies in Suspect’s Shooting

The district attorney’s office on Thursday cleared two Ventura County sheriff’s deputies for using deadly force when they shot a suspected drug dealer as he tried to escape arrest.

Jeffrey Kenneth Hedlund of Newbury Park was shot in the jaw, shoulder and neck June 30, moments after trying to run over deputies attempting to arrest him in a crowded fast-food restaurant parking lot, Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert D. Meyers said.

“There was an extreme risk of death or serious bodily injury to anyone who was in that parking lot,” Meyers said.

Hedlund, 26, was able to elude deputies for a short time, but he was arrested less than a mile away by investigators who had staked out his home, Meyers said.

Deputies also arrested four others, including two juveniles, at the Maple Road house on lesser drug charges after investigators found drugs inside the home, officials said.

Meyers said a police informant on June 30 bought an unspecified amount of cocaine from Hedlund and that Hedlund was dropping the informant off in the restaurant parking lot when officers tried to make the arrest.

Hedlund has been in custody at Ventura County Jail on a parole violation for an unspecified prior conviction, according to Meyers.

Hedlund is scheduled to be arraigned today in Ventura County Municipal Court on charges of assault on a police officer, transportation and sales of cocaine, and possession of cocaine for the purpose of sale, Meyers said.

None of the deputies involved in the arrest were injured.