Arizona man assaults CHP officer
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - The California Highway Patrol (CHP) says a man from Arizona assaulted a CHP officer.
In a press release, the incident happened Thursday before 6:00pm when "CHP personnel contacted a disabled motorist," identified as a 43-year-old man from Phoenix, westbound Interstate 8 (I-8), "just west of Imperial Highway."
Upon arrival, CHP says the man "displayed altering mood swings" when the officer was trying to help the man, but as the officer was speaking to the man through the driver's side window, which was open, the man assaulted the officer with a screwdriver, "causing a laceration to the officer's face."
CHP says the officer returned to his patrol vehicle and called for backup, and the arriving officers gave the man "multiple commands to exit the vehicle," but the man refused, so CHP deployed beanbags "to gain a visual of the interior of the vehicle due to [the man] making furtive movements."
According to CHP, the man ignited the interior of the vehicle with a flammable liquid, causing him to exit the vehicle and to walk westbound on I-8 "on the right shoulder."
CHP adds that the officers followed the man, giving him "numerous commands to stop," but the man still refused to comply, prompting a K9 officer to deploy his canine onto the man, but the man began hitting the canine with the metal screwdriver.
CHP then says officers tased and hit the man with "several Kinetic energy munitions (beanbags)," but the taser, beanbags and canine had "no effect" on the man.
At the same time, CHP says officers surrounded the man and "eventually got him to voluntarily surrender."
CHP says the man was treated for his injuries on scene and was taken to El Centro Regional Medical Center (ECRMC) for further treatment while the officer "who suffered a laceration to his face drove himself to the hospital for treatment."
