CHP Officer Recovering From Shooting On I-8 In Mission Valley

SAN DIEGO, CA — A California Highway Patrol officer was recovering Thursday from a gunshot wound he suffered during a struggle with a motorist who allegedly tried to grab the lawman's gun after getting into a solo freeway accident in Mission Valley.

The events that led to the shooting began about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, when 25-year-old Yuhao Du of San Diego crashed his vehicle on eastbound Interstate 8 near the I-805 overpass, according to the CHP.

A short time later, a Highway Patrol officer responding to the wreck pulled over alongside the freeway and contacted Du, who was standing in a center-median area, CHP spokesman Jake Sanchez said.

As the patrolman was speaking with him, Du allegedly attacked him without warning, "lunging for his service gun" and "trying to take control of it," Sanchez said.

As the two men grappled over the pistol, it went off, wounding the officer in the thigh.

"The struggle (then) continued, at which point several passing motorists stopped to assist the injured officer by providing medical aid and restraining Du until additional law enforcement (personnel) arrived," the CHP spokesman said.

Paramedics took the wounded patrolman, whose name has not been released, to Scripps Mercy Hospital, where he was admitted in stable condition.

Commenting on the violent roadside encounter, CHP Chief Scott Parker said he was "extremely grateful for the members of the public who put themselves in harm's way to help our officer after he was shot in the leg."

"This incident could have ended in a greater tragedy had those individuals not intervened," Parker noted.

Du was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of attempted murder of a peace officer, assault with a firearm causing great bodily injury and attempting to take a law officer's gun. He was being held without bail pending arraignment, scheduled for Friday afternoon.

— City News Service