Officer Is Wounded in Gunfight : Shooting: Police sergeant hit in exchange with man who allegedly fled scene of car accident. Suspect is in custody.

A uniformed Santa Monica police sergeant who stopped to aid motorists at a traffic accident was shot Friday in a gunfight with a man who had fled the accident scene, police said.

Police apprehended a man suspected of being the gunman about half an hour after the 8:15 p.m. shooting, said Officer Miguel Quintero of the Los Angeles Police Department. Authorities identified the suspect as Brian Joff, but would not release the name of the Santa Monica police sergeant.

The sergeant was on his motorcycle conducting a follow-up investigation of a hit-and-run accident that had occurred in Santa Monica when he was flagged down by motorists near Coldwater Canyon Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard, said Police Lt. John Dunkin and Officer Sandra Castello.

Shortly after 8 p.m., witnesses said, a man with long hair and a tattoo on his shoulder was driving north on Coldwater Canyon Avenue at a high rate of speed. The man, who was driving a gray Ford Mustang, collided with another car and then came to a stop, witnesses said.

“He got out real fast and grabbed his dog and a backpack,” said Donald McCall, 16, who was waiting at the intersection with a friend for a ride to the Taft-Crenshaw high school football game.

People at the scene stopped the uniformed Santa Monica sergeant as he drove by and directed him to where the Mustang driver had fled--toward a Ralphs market parking lot at Coldwater and Magnolia.

Dunkin said the sergeant made eye contact with the Mustang driver near the parking lot. The man turned and ran west, Dunkin said.

A few hundred yards west of the parking lot, the two men exchanged gunfire, Officer Castello said. The gunman allegedly shot the sergeant twice--one shot passing through the his neck. Another shot, in the upper body, was blocked by the sergeant’s bulletproof vest, Dunkin said.

“Did it save his life? Yes it did,” Dunkin said. “It’s worth it’s weight in gold.”

The suspected gunman was captured by police a few blocks west near Fulton Avenue and Magnolia Boulevard. Police are still searching for a handgun.

Abigail Goldman is a Times staff writer. Eric Slater is a correspondent.