Motorist taken into custody after allegedly trying to run over deputies

A motorist was taken into custody early Sunday after allegedly trying to run over Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies in Lomita, ramming his car into a patrol vehicle and crashing into a camper, authorities said.

The incident occurred about 2 a.m. when deputies responded to a disturbance call at the intersection of 246^th Place and Pennsylvania Avenue, authorities said. As one deputy got out of his car, a man sped toward him in his vehicle, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

The deputy leaped out of the way, and the driver rammed his patrol car several times, then drove over the curb and through bushes, “still attempting to run over the deputy,” according to a department statement.

The driver sped on through the front lawns of several homes, then toward a second deputy who arrived at the scene, authorities said. That deputy also managed to jump out of the way.

During the chase, deputies shot twice at the suspect, striking his vehicle, authorities said. But the driver sped onward for a quarter of a mile before veering over a curb, smashing through a backyard fence and crashing into a camper that people were sleeping in.

No one in the camper was hurt.

The man, identified as Mario Morales of Lomita, was subdued and taken to a nearby hospital for medical attention. He faces numerous criminal charges, including assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.

The investigation of the incident is ongoing.

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