Officers Held in Gunfire, Wild Chase

Two off-duty Los Angeles police officers were arrested Wednesday in the South Bay after they apparently went on a drunken shooting spree, firing from the open windows of their pickup truck on the terrified passengers of a moving bus and on a California Highway patrolman, authorities said.

Identified as Officers Michael Herrera, 30, and Ted Teyechea, 29, the off-duty patrolmen were booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and were being held on $25,000 bail each, said Deputy Rich Erickson of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

No one was injured in the incident, but the investigation forced closure of two Harbor Freeway transition roads, tying up traffic during most of the evening rush-hour.

The gunplay erupted about 2 p.m. near the 190th Street on-ramp to the northbound Harbor Freeway, in a narrow strip of Los Angeles that separates the cities of Carson and Gardena. As a CHP motorcycle officer was wrapping up an unrelated traffic stop on an on-ramp, a Metropolitan Transit Authority bus roared by, its occupants shrieking out the windows that someone was shooting at them, Erickson said.

As the patrolman strained to hear their words, Erickson said, a beige pickup truck careened by with two guns blazing from the windows, “and both occupants of the truck fired at the motor officer.”

Unscathed, the officer took off after the truck, whose occupants were still shooting, chasing it north on the Harbor Freeway and then west on the Artesia Freeway, Erickson said.

Finally, the truck became caught in a traffic jam and the CHP officer, accompanied by backup units, was able to pull over the two men and take them into custody, Erickson said. Authorities would not immediately release the name of the motorcycle officer who gave chase.

Two handguns and a number of expended casings were recovered in the truck, but it was unclear whether they were from service weapons, Erickson said. Officials added that the officers apparently were drunk.

“At least nine rounds were fired, and there was an indication that both officers had been drinking,” said Sheriff’s Lt. Raymond Peavy. “The bottom line in this case is that a couple of officers probably won’t be officers any longer, and they’re looking at serious criminal charges.”

The two officers were described as experienced patrolmen from the LAPD’s 77th Street Division, where fellow officers reacted with shock. Herrera has been with the department for since November, 1984, and Teyechea has been an LAPD officer since July, 1985, according to department records.

Both, authorities said, were assigned to the division’s morning watch, which goes off duty before 8 a.m. It was unclear whether they had been working the morning preceding the incident.

“This is really mind-boggling,” said Sgt. Mike Perez, the 77th Street watch commander. “I can’t believe it. These guys are not youngsters.”

LAPD spokesmen added that the department would have no formal comment on the incident, pending the investigation by the Sheriff’s Department, to which the incident was passed at the request of the CHP.

Meanwhile, MTA police said they are conducting their own probe of the shooting.

Times staff writer Nieson Himmel contributed to this story.