San Diego : Driver Wounded by Officer After Refusing to Stop

A driver was shot and wounded Thursday morning in Mission Valley after he refused to obey a California Highway Patrol officer’s order to step from his car and suddenly sped away, police said.

The wounded man was identified as James Garcia, 26. He was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center, where he was reported in serious condition with a bullet wound in the back.

A spokesman for the San Diego Police Department said CHP motorcycle officer Arnold Sidney pulled Garcia over, and into the parking lot of the Town & Country Hotel, 500 Hotel Circle North, after he allegedly made an illegal turn and because there were no license plates on the car.

Sidney ordered Garcia to step out of his car but the man reportedly refused and started to drive off, according to Lee Denno, CHP commander in San Diego.

Sidney lunged through the open window on the driver’s side of the car and tried to turn off the ignition. He was dragged alongside the car as Garcia began to drive away, Denno said.

The officer managed to draw his pistol and shot once at Garcia. Sidney fell from the car but was not hurt and radioed for help, Denno said.

Wounded, Garcia abandoned his car, scaled a fence and ran across Interstate 8. San Diego police arrested him behind the Seven Seas Lodge motel on Hotel Circle South, Denno said.

Sidney was placed on administrative duty until an internal CHP investigation into the shooting is completed, Denno said.