An off-duty sheriff’s deputy jumped into action and brought an end to a high-speed chase of a motorcyclist wanted in connection with the killing of a fellow deputy Monday afternoon in Southern California.
Sheriff’s officials suspect the motorcyclist in the shooting just after 12:30 p.m. of a San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputy who responded to a report of a man threatening a woman with a gun in the city of Rancho Cucamonga, about 47 miles east of downtown Los Angeles, sheriff’s officials said.
The deputy, six-year-veteran Andrew Nunez, 28, father of a 2-year-old daughter and expecting another child, was shot in the head upon arriving at the scene and later pronounced dead at a hospital, sheriff’s officials and the office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom said.
“Deputies arrived and were immediately shot at by the suspect,” the sheriff’s department said in an earlier statement.
The incident triggered a high-speed chase that ended only when an off-duty deputy drove a Toyota Camry, which the department described in a statement as “unmarked Sheriff’s Department vehicle,” into the bike’s path on the 210 Freeway in the city of Upland at about 1:35 p.m., Sheriff Shannon D. Dicus said at a news conference.
“The pursuit came to a conclusion with an off-duty deputy sheriff who put himself on duty and conducted a legal intervention by hitting the suspect on the motorcycle,” Dicus said.
The motorcyclist at times reached speeds of 150 mph-plus, the sheriff’s department said, as deputies and California Highway Patrol units lagged behind during the pursuit, which was captured on video.
The rider tumbled and slid forward along the leftmost lane and the left shoulder as the bike did the same after the off-duty deputy bumped into him, video showed, before law enforcement officers moved in to apply restraints. After paramedics rushed to the man’s aid, a helicopter landed on the freeway to rush him to a hospital, NBC Los Angeles reported.
He was stabilized and is expected to be booked on suspicion of murder upon his release, the sheriff’s department said in a statement Monday night.
San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said a charging decision for the man, who has not been publicly identified, would come in a day or two.
Newsom ordered flags at the State Capitol be flown at half-staff after the killing of Nunez.
“His courage, compassion and dedication to protecting others reflect the finest traditions of law enforcement,” Newsom said in a statement Monday night.
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