Man shot after leading police on pursuit, slamming into patrol car
Investigators comb the scene of an officer-involved shooting, in which a kidnapping suspect led Burbank police on a short pursuit Thursday morning. He was shot after slamming his truck into a patrol car, officials said.
Police shot a 21-year-old man early Thursday morning after the suspect led them on a short vehicle pursuit before slamming into a patrol car in Burbank, police said.
At around 4:10 a.m., officers responded to a call from the 99 Cents Only store at Victory Boulevard and Buena Vista Street, where a 36-year-old woman told police she was kidnapped by a man in a white pickup truck, said Burbank Police Sgt. Claudio Losacco.
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Police spotted a white truck heading west on Victory Boulevard and attempted to stop the driver, but the suspect — later identified as Arthur Papiyan — took off, speeding through red lights, Losacco said.
After a short pursuit, the driver stopped at Victory Boulevard and Pass Avenue, where two officers remained by their patrol car with their guns drawn, calling the suspect back to them.
The suspect then reversed the truck and slammed it into the patrol car, at which point police shot him, Losacco said.
One round pierced through the driver’s seat and struck Papiyan’s back, leaving a “significant” bruise, Losacco said. Neither officer was injured.
After he was treated at the hospital, Papiyan was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on an officer.
The alleged victim later told police she left a house party in south Los Angeles on foot when a man drove up next to her and offered her a ride.
She told police she accepted, and he drove onto the freeway, but didn’t get off at the right exit.
She said the driver then put a rag over her face and the next thing she knew, she was out of the truck near railroad tracks, Losacco said.
The woman then walked to the 99 Cents Only store and called the police.
Officers have not verified the woman’s story, so Papiyan was not booked on suspicion of kidnapping.
Papiyan is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail and is due in court next week.
The woman, who was being uncooperative, was arrested on two outstanding misdemeanor warrants for prostitution.
Burbank resident Marla Hancock, whose two children attend a preschool less than a block away from where the suspect was shot, heard about the incident on social media and called the school right away to make sure the man was in custody.
“They weren’t going to come to school if the guy was on the loose, like last time,” she said, referring to a suspect who was at large for more than three weeks after shooting two people in a Burbank neighborhood.
During that time, the man reportedly committed several other violent crimes throughout Los Angeles County.
“There’s been too much in Burbank lately,” Hancock said, referring to crime in the city. “It makes me want to sell and move.”
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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @atchek
