By Richard Brooks
Press-Enterprise
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A San Bernardino police officer acted in self-defense when he shot and wounded a man who had rammed the officer’s patrol car and later ran toward the unoccupied police cruiser, which contained a night stick and a shotgun, prosecutors say.
Officer Brad Grantz fired four times at Juan Henry Arredondo and hit him twice during the June 4 confrontation, according to a seven-page report by Supervising San Bernardino County Deputy District Attorney Victor Stull. The .45-caliber bullets hit Arredondo in the left hip and right inner arm.
“The situation (at the patrol car) presented a threat no different than had Mr. Arredondo been running directly for a club, a knife or a loaded gun,” Stull wrote. “Officer Grantz was not required to allow him to get into the patrol car to make sure that was his goal.”
The showdown began when Grantz saw Arredondo driving at night without headlights and tried to make a traffic stop to determine whether the car was stolen. The result was a 60-mph pursuit that ended in a cul-de-sac on Vine Street.
Moments later, the suspect car accelerated backward, slamming into the police cruiser, the report said.
Arredondo ran away, chased by the 14-year police veteran. During the chase, Arredondo reached toward his waistband, as if grabbing for a gun, the report said. The officer yelled a threat, and the chase continued.
Then both men tumbled into a low spot in a dirt field and the officer looked up to find the 200-pound Arredondo standing over him from only six feet away, the report said. After another shouted threat, Arredondo ran toward the patrol car.
Grantz fired three shots when Arredondo got within five feet of the car’s open door, Stull wrote.
“Officer Grantz wondered why (Arredondo) just didn’t throw in the towel at that point,” the report says. “But now that the man was reaching for his waistband … Officer Grantz feared that he was reaching for a weapon (and Grantz) fired one more shot.”
Arredondo landed in a sitting position, but ignored commands to lie down. Instead, he reached into his pocket, saying, “I need to make a phone call,” the report said.
Grantz withheld further gunfire and waited for backup officers to help take Arredondo into custody. In Arredondo’s front pocket, they found a bag containing several hypodermic needles, the report says.
Lab tests showed that Arredondo had PCP and marijuana in his bloodstream.
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