Motorist Charged With Assault on Officer

VAN NUYS — The district attorney’s office filed felony assault charges Monday against a driver shot during a confrontation with a California Highway Patrol officer, saying the evidence on a videotape made by a news cameraman is “as good as it gets.”

The driver, Edward Pantoja, 30, posted $50,000 bail Friday but remains hospitalized in fair condition with multiple gunshot wounds at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills.

Prosecutors on Monday charged Pantoja with assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon and evading an officer during a May 1 freeway chase that ended with the shooting. His arraignment is scheduled for May 30.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Richmond, who handles crimes against police officers, said he based the charges on the videotape, which he described as “a good witness.”

Meanwhile, a relative of Pantoja said the San Fernando man is recovering from his wounds. Family members declined to talk about the shooting.

Police say Pantoja was speeding south on the Hollywood Freeway at Roscoe Boulevard and then began tailgating CHP Officer Ronald Valencia, who was driving a black-and-white patrol car. Pantoja swerved past the officer, leading him to the Vineland Avenue exit, about four miles south of Roscoe, according to the Los Angeles Police Department, which is investigating the shooting.

The videotape recorded what happened next: Valencia walked up to the slowly moving black Pontiac Fiero and moved in front of it. Yelling, “Stop! Stop!” the officer then fired more than half a dozen shots through the windshield on the driver’s side while Pantoja kept the car slowly rolling toward the officer. After the shooting, Pantoja was captured in a nearby parking lot at Lankershim Boulevard and Moorpark Street.

Police say Pantoja tried to run over the officer.

Valencia, 38, has never been in a shooting and remains on administrative duty until an internal review is completed. He has worked more than seven years at the CHP’s West Valley office in Woodland Hills.

The Highway Patrol, which has 5,188 officers, has relatively few shootings. Last year, the CHP had 11 shootings and nearly 2.4 million arrests. So far this year, the CHP has had three shootings.

Valencia’s actions, including standing in front of the moving vehicle, will be reviewed as part of an internal CHP investigation, officials said.