By Gary Warth
The San Diego Union-Tribune
SAN DIEGO — An hours-long standoff in Mira Mesa Friday night ended with the arrest of a driver suspected of running down a San Diego police officer.
Police had been searching for the driver following an altercation that left a motorcycle officer injured Thursday morning.
The incident began after the motorcycle officer initiated a traffic stop on a black Chrysler sedan with an Arizona license plate at Black Mountain Road and Westview Parkway about 10:10 a.m. Thursday, police said.
The sedan initially yielded but then sped away from the officer, who pursued the vehicle.
The driver stopped in a traffic lane, then shifted into reverse and accelerated, crashing into the motorcycle and officer directly behind the car, police said, calling it “clearly an intentional act.”
The officer was knocked over and pinned under the motorcycle as the vehicle continued to drive backward. The sedan then drove off.
The injured officer was treated at a hospital for minor injuries and released.
Homicide detectives were called to the scene to investigate the case as an attempted murder, and an investigation revealed the name of the suspected driver, who had a female companion in the car.
Police learned the suspect was in the Mira Mesa area about 6 p.m. Friday, and a police helicopter located the couple in the backyard of a home on Dewsbury Avenue just east of Elderburry Court, homicide Lt. Andra Brown said Saturday.
The couple went into the house after being spotted, and officers immediately surrounded the residence. Police said other occupants of the house came out, and a SWAT team was called for assistance. But after a standoff that lasted several hours, the two were not immediately found in the house.
During a secondary search, the two were eventually found in the rafters of the garage, but they still refused to come out. They surrendered after police deployed chemical agents in the garage. They were detained for questioning.
The name of the injured officer, a 13-year veteran of the department, has not being released. He has been assigned to the traffic division motorcycle unit for more than five years.
This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.
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