Prosecutor Says Suspect Tried to Run Over Deputy : Courts: Trial opens for Jeffrey Hedlund of Newbury Park, who is charged with selling drugs and assaulting a police officer.

A Newbury Park drug suspect intentionally tried to run over and seriously injure a Ventura County sheriff’s deputy in June before being shot and wounded, a prosecutor said Monday.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert D. Meyers’ statement came during opening remarks in the trial of Jeffrey Hedlund, 26, who is charged with one count of transportation and sale of cocaine and two counts of assault on a police officer.

Hedlund slammed his pickup truck in reverse and sped toward Deputy Patrick MacCauley on June 30 after realizing that the man he had just furnished with cocaine was a police informant, Meyers said.

MacCauley managed to dive out of the way of the charging pickup truck, tearing the sole off one of his shoes before firing several shots at the suspect, Meyers said.

The defendant’s attorney, Richard W. Hanawalt, declined to give an opening statement in court or to respond to Meyers’ comments outside court.

Although he was shot three times in the neck, arm and jaw, Hedlund rammed an unmarked sheriff’s car before leading the officers on a high-speed chase through Thousand Oaks, authorities said.

He was arrested after surrendering in front of his Maple Road home. The district attorney’s office ruled that the shots fired by the deputies were justified.

Meyers told the jury that he will present evidence that shows Hedlund provided an informant with 10 small plastic bags containing a total of a half an ounce of cocaine.

The first witness to take the stand was the informant who allegedly bought the cocaine.

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The informant acknowledged that he had an auto-theft case pending against him and agreed to help sheriff’s deputies arrest Hedlund only after they promised to dismiss the charge.

“I also don’t believe it’s right to sell drugs,” said the informant, whose name is being withheld because he is involved in other investigations.

The informant said he had known Hedlund for about three months before the undercover operation. Hedlund had told him on previous occasions that he needed a cellular phone to conduct drug sales, the informant testified.

On the night of the undercover sting, the informant said, deputies provided him with a cellular phone and instructed him to trade it for drugs from Hedlund.

With narcotics officers present, the informant called Hedlund from a Newbury Park grocery store and agreed to meet Hedlund in the parking lot of the In-N-Out Burgers near Hedlund’s house.

The informant said the deputies fitted him with a wire transmitter and ordered him not to get into Hedlund’s truck. But when he arrived at the restaurant, Hedlund was playing loud music and insisted that the informant get into his truck or the deal would be called off, the informant said.

He said as soon as he got in the truck, Hedlund sped off, drove onto the Ventura Freeway and continued to Moorpark Road, where they exited the freeway and went to a gas station.

“We were doing over 100 m.p.h.,” the informant testified, grinning.

At the gas station, Hedlund gave him the drugs for the telephone, the informant said.

Meyers said deputies had lost sight of Hedlund and the informant until Hedlund pulled back into the In-N-Out parking lot. He said that is when MacCauley and other deputies approached Hedlund’s truck.

The deputies illuminated lights on the truck and yelled ‘Sheriff’s Department!’ ” Meyers said.

Instead of surrendering, Hedlund backed straight toward MacCauley before fleeing, Meyers said.

Hedlund faces a maximum of 10 years in state prison if convicted on all the charges. His trial continues this morning before Superior Court Judge Charles R. McGrath.