CHP Officer Survives South County Shooting

A veteran CHP officer was shot twice early Wednesday by a suspected speeder, who then fled in a red pickup truck as the bleeding officer drove himself five miles to a hospital, where he is expected to make a full recovery.

As of late Wednesday evening, the gunman was still at large.

The officer, whose identity was withheld by officials, was shot about 6 a.m. on southbound Interstate 5 just north of San Clemente’s Avenida Pico exit.

The victim, who has been with the California Highway Patrol for seven years, was reported in stable condition after undergoing surgery on his right forearm at San Clemente Hospital & Medical Center, where he was reportedly being treated under an alias in a room under police guard.

“We have every indication he will recover fully,” CHP Capt. Mike Bair said.

Police were searching for the gunman as far south as the Mexican border. He was said to be driving a newer red pickup truck, possibly a Toyota, with a tinted rear window

The truck reportedly had no license plate and may have lacked a metal rear bumper. Police said the gunman was alone. The investigation snarled traffic for miles as police shut down the southbound lanes for two hours during the peak of the morning rush. The northbound side was similarly backed up as gawkers slowed to watch.

Bair said the officer was wearing a tape recorder, which was turned on as he approached the passenger side of the pickup truck. The officer spoke briefly with the driver, who then raised a large-caliber handgun and fired out the passenger window at close range.

The officer, who did not have a chance to draw his weapon, was hit at least twice, in the chest and right arm. Bair would not say whether he was wearing a bulletproof vest, although, Bair said, such vests are required by CHP regulations. He also declined to discuss any evidence gathered at the scene.

One of the shots struck the officer’s tape recorder, but it was unclear whether the tape was damaged, CHP Officer Joan Rivas said. The patrol car was not equipped with a video camera.

On a tape of the officer’s radio transmission to dispatchers, the victim could be heard breathing heavily as he reported “Shots fired north of Pico.” He then gave a description of the gunman before telling the dispatcher, “I’m going to drive myself to San Clemente Hospital.”

Bair said police would be unable to prepare a drawing of the gunman until they could interview the officer after his recovery from surgery.

Trauma surgeon Dr. Juan Carlos Cobo said the patrolman was shot twice. The most serious wound was to the upper right forearm, where the bullet went through the limb. The other round slammed into his chest, leaving a bruise but not penetrating the skin.

Cobo also declined to say if the officer was wearing a vest. It is not clear whether the bullet was stopped by a vest or the officer’s recorder. Cobo described the chest injury as similar to that left by a full-force blow with a baseball bat.

The victim was in intensive care and will spend at least 48 hours in the hospital, Cobo said, describing him as “awake and alert and talking to his family.”

Dr. Gus Gialamas, who performed the operation, said the surgery took about two hours.

“The bullet wound to his arm was a through-and-through,” he said. “He has sustained pretty severe damage to his upper forearm, . . . which will require prolonged rehabilitation.”

Cobo said the patrolman will have to mend “some emotional injuries as well.”

Bair declined to provide personal details about the victim while the gunman remained at large.

Other sources said, however, that the officer, who is married, transferred to the San Juan Capistrano CHP station about a year ago from Baldwin Park. Officers there referred inquiries to the CHP station in San Juan Capistrano.

Today is the officer’s 38th or 39th birthday, one source said.

Rivas said the victim, well liked by his colleagues, has a good sense of humor. When the call came that he was in trouble, other on-duty officers jumped to respond, including those not out on the road.

“He put out an 1199 call [police code for ‘Officer needs assistance’], and everybody scrambled,” she said. “It’s not a call that, thankfully, you hear very often.”

The incident occurred during the patrolman’s first stop on a shift that began at 5:30 a.m.

The officer pulled over a suspected speeder near a large blue “Tourist Information” sign standing in an open area just north of the Avenida Pico exit.

After he was shot, he struggled back into his patrol car, used his left hand to put the car in gear and drove south, exiting at Avenida Pico, police said. He crossed under the freeway then drove northbound, exiting at Camino Estrella, a few hundred yards from the San Clemente Hospital and Medical Center.

“I thought that he used extremely good judgment,” Bair said. “When he realized he was shot, he immediately put out the broadcast to other units so they would know what to look for and was able to drive himself to the hospital.”

He arrived there in about four minutes, Bair said. The rear door on the driver’s side was streaked with blood and a yard-long skid mark could be seen in the hospital driveway.

“He was conscious, he was lucid,” Bair said. “He put out the call immediately,” so emergency room personnel knew he was coming in.

Security at the hospital was tight: Sheriff’s deputies guarded the entrance and shielded the victim’s wife from cameras when she arrived. Around 10:45 a.m., a trauma surgeon was flown in by helicopter from Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center. By 11:30, the officer was out of surgery.

During the day, local residents stopped and asked deputies for updates on the officer’s condition, and to offer flowers or a donation of blood.

“I saw the news conference on TV and I came down here,” said Anne Christensen of San Clemente. “It puts it right at the heart. You never think in your neighborhood things like this would happen. I just wanted to give him some flowers. Our thoughts are with him.”

The investigation tied up traffic for miles in both directions of Interstate 5 and on surrounding surface streets. Travelers slowed to gawk at investigators, who walked through an apparent role-playing exercise as they reenacted the shooting on the roadside.

Other officers--many uniformed and wearing bulletproof vests, and some in street clothes--jammed the quarter-mile stretch of highway near where the shoulder had been roped off for the investigation.

Wednesday’s incident was the first shooting of a CHP officer in Orange County since Officer Don J. Burt was shot and killed in Fullerton in 1996 after stopping an alleged gang leader for a routine traffic infraction.

That gunman, Hung “Henry” Thanh Mai, 30, was convicted of murder July 30 with the special circumstance of murdering a peace officer in the performance of his duty, making him eligible for the death penalty. He is to be sentenced next month.

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Times staff writer Kris Lindgren also contributed to this report.

* TRAFFIC STOP: Morning crush lasts all day with I-5 closed. A17

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Routine Stop Turns Violent

A California Highway Patrol officer was shot twice Wednesday morning during a traffic stop on the southbound San Diego Freeway in San Clemente but managed to drive himself to the hospital.

1. Driver shoots CHP officer during traffic stop

2. Wounded officer drives to hospital

Investigation causes 11-mile traffic backup

Graphics reporting by BRADY MacDONALD / Los Angeles Times