In 2013, the San Bernardino Sheriff’s Department made worldwide news when a deputy landed the same type of helicopter in the desert to question a woman who was collecting rocks, demanding her identification and searching through her purse.
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Cases of police shooting suspects from helicopters – as happened Friday during a pursuit of wrong-way vehicle on the 215 Freeway in San Bernardino County – are definitely unusual, but they have occurred.
Deputy Deon Filer says deputies began pursuing a carjacking suspect from the Fontana area at around noon Friday.
“It’s actually a luxury because many departments don’t have sophisticated air support units at their disposal”, said Ed Obayashi, a deputy sheriff for Inyo County and special legal counsel to multiple law enforcement agencies.
The vehicle , a gray Chevrolet Yukon, kept going before hitting a Dodge Durango coming the other way with three passengers inside, all of whom had to be taken to hospital, according to KTLA. “All of our deputies/tactical flight officers qualify with the same weapons that they carry in the aircraft through and within department qualifications”.
“The suspect was threatening the safety of the public” by speeding, running stop signs, narrowly missing pedestrians and driving the wrong way on the freeway, sheriff’s spokeswoman Jodi Miller said in an email Saturday. An adult male and a 13-year-old child were later released.
The drama began when deputies tried to arrest the holdup suspect during the lunch hour Friday, September 18, in Fontana. The driver managed to continue along the freeway before collapsing a short distance away and dying at the scene.
It is not clear if the suspect was struck by gunfire or if he was fatally injured when he leapt from the vehicle.
An autopsy was expected to determine the cause of death for the unidentified driver.
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Although police wouldn’t confirm whether they opened fire before or after the suspect jumped from the vehicle, a series of bullet holes that appear in the suspect’s windshield, seem to indicate that police opened fire while the auto was moving. A female occupant remains hospitalized, authorities said.
