Deputy Wounded by Arrow; Man Held

A 44-year-old loan broker is being held at the Orange County Jail on suspicion of shooting an arrow into the calf of a sheriff’s deputy who was writing a traffic ticket in Aliso Viejo, authorities said.

Tri Thanh Lam is scheduled to be arraigned today on a charge of attempted murder. He was being held on $1-million bail.

Orange County Sheriff’s Deputy Owen Hall had pulled over a woman for a traffic ticket Saturday afternoon when a 28-inch long arrow hit him about 6 inches above the right ankle, Lt. Dave Wilson said.

A video system that deputies routinely activate when they pull someone over taped the event from Hall’s car and another patrol car that had pulled over. “You can see this thing fly out of the air and hit his leg,” Wilson said.

Hall, 30, pulled the arrow out and told the woman to drive away.

He and the other deputy drove to safety, department spokesman Jim Amormino said.

Hall was treated at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo and released. The arrow caused a small wound and chipped his shin bone, Wilson said.

Investigators canvassed the neighborhood without success Saturday. When they returned Sunday and knocked on Lam’s door on King Eider Lane, he came out of the garage. Deputies spotted a hunting bow and five arrows that matched the one that hit Hall, Amormino said.

Amormino said investigators don’t think the shooting was related to the traffic stop.