Orange County Register
ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — Police opened fire on a man inside a black car Tuesday morning, shortly after the man reportedly tried to drive away from the scene of a six-car wreck, witnesses and authorities said.
Authorities said the man who was shot by officers is the same driver who was driving at a high speed on the wrong side of Pacific Coast Highway just minutes before the crash at 8 a.m., near Pacific Coast Highway and St. Ann’s Drive. Two other people were treated for minor injuries.
“There are a lot of wrecked cars,” said Lt. Jason Kravetz of the Laguna Beach Police Department. A gray Audi, a Ford F-150 and a black Chevrolet were also involved in the crash.
At least one officer ordered the driver of the 2006 Mitsubishi to stop, then fired five to six times into the rear and passenger side of the mangled car while employees and business patrons watched, witnesses said.
The man, identified by police only as a man in his 20s, was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, where he was being treated for multiple gunshot wounds.
According to DMV records, the four-door Mitsubishi is registered to Colby Koenig, a 25-year-old man.
The driver was first reported to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, heading north on the wrong side of Pacific Coast Highway from Dana Point. Some witnesses reported the car going at 80 to 100 mph, Kravetz said.
The car sped past two officers directing traffic at Wesley Drive, Kravetz said.
Seconds later, the crash.
Patrons and workers of nearby businesses rushed to the street after the sound of the impact reverberated through the busy intersection, said Tim Manriquez, who ran from his job at a window-tinting business nearby.
“I heard the collision right at my door here,” he said. “It happened so fast, I just ran out to try to help people.”
Kim O’Donnell of Laguna Beach was driving with her daughter to school south on the highway when she heard the Mitsubishi crash into an SUV in front of her.
“I am very grateful that the SUV was in front of me because I was carrying my daughter,” she said. “He could have killed a lot of people.”
The driver in the black Mitsubishi appeared to have been knocked unconscious by the collision, Manriquez said.
Police arrived a few seconds later.
O’Donnell said she went to see if the driver of the Mitsubishi was OK. He was mumbling and the car’s horn was blowing. He did not respond to her, she said.
Another man opened the hood of the car to disengage the horn. O’Donnell then walked over to other cars to see if someone needed help. That’s when she heard the car “rev up,” she said.
“He started to drive, he turned and the car just spun out of control,” Manriquez said.
Jaymes Gard, the general manager of the Penguin Café, said he heard the car’s wheels squeal as the driver turned the car on.
The car began to move from the center of Pacific Coast Highway toward St. Ann’s around 10 mph, while three or four officers positioned themselves behind the car with their guns drawn, Gard said.
“It happened so quickly, it happened like in 10 seconds,” Gard said.
One of the officers began to yell at the driver.
“The cop was telling him to stop,” Manriquez said. As the vehicle turned, officers fired into the car.
Liz Campbell, who works at The Stand, a nearby restaurant, said she heard five or six shots in a row.
“I saw some people drop to the floor or duck behind other objects,” Gard said. “I don’t think they were shooting to kill. They were trying to stop him.”
Kravetz said he did not yet know what caused the officers to fire, or whether the man inside the vehicle had fired at officers.
After the shots were fired, officers rushed toward the vehicle and checked the driver’s vital signs, Gard said.
Kravetz did not say whether a weapon was retrieved from inside the car.
Copyright 2010 Orange County Register