Officer Suffers Bruises After Being Dragged by Suspect’s Car

A Los Angeles police officer was dragged 15 feet as he tried to pull a robbery suspect from a car early Wednesday, authorities said.

Officer Eric Jones suffered minor bruises and the suspect was arrested a short time after the incident.

Jones and his partner, Mark Morales, were driving through Pacoima at about 2:45 a.m. when they received a radio call of a police unit pursuing a robbery suspect, Lt. John Dunkin said. Jones and Morales, both in uniform and in a dual-purpose car, joined the pursuit and caught up with the suspect’s car at Branford Street near the on-ramp to the Golden State Freeway, Dunkin said.

The suspect’s car spun out of control and skidded onto the sidewalk, where it stopped. When the driver refused to exit the car as ordered, Jones went to the car and opened the driver’s door, Dunkin said. At that moment the driver, Adam Esquivis, 21, suddenly stepped on the gas and the car accelerated, taking Jones, his hands still on the door, with it, he said.

The car slammed into a light pole and stopped. Morales, who was standing near the front of the car, fired four rounds at it as it approached but hit no one, Dunkin said.

Esquivis drove off, but was caught by other officers a few blocks later, Dunkin said. He was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a peace officer, and a 20-year-old woman passenger was also taken into custody, Dunkin said.

Jones was taken to Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, where he was treated and released, Dunkin said.

Authorities say Esquivis was a suspect in two automated teller machine robberies earlier that night.