Driver Shot at as He Heads for Police Car
An LAPD officer shot at but did not injure a 32-year-old man Saturday who tried to run over officers during a high-speed chase in San Fernando, authorities said.
Carmelo Soto was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer following the 1:50 a.m. pursuit, LAPD Officer Mike Schwehr said. The shooting occurred when Soto allegedly drove east into a cul-de-sac on Griswold Avenue and directly at a police patrol car.
Officer Frank Hernandez fired two rounds from his 9-millimeter pistol, missing Soto, who made a U-turn and continued west on Griswold, Schwehr said. Officers later arrested Soto without incident at another location.
It was the second officer-involved shooting in two days in the San Fernando Valley, police said.
On Friday, three off-duty LAPD detectives and another LAPD employee spotted two men breaking into a car in the 14400 block of Friar Street in Van Nuys, Schwehr said. The detectives chased the two on foot to the intersection of Sylmar Avenue and Friar where one of the pair used a pistol--later determined to have been taken during the burglary--to fire three rounds at officers, Schwehr said.
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