Last Updated on August 26, 2016 by CCAR Staff
HUNTINGTON BEACH >> A police officer’s badge deflected a bullet heading for his heart in a gun battle during a car chase Friday morning that ended in a fiery crash in the Cajon Pass, officials said.
The officer suffered minor cuts from shattered glass, but is now home.
The gun-battle car chase started in the area of Bushard Street and Yorktown Avenue, in Huntington Beach, after a man fled from his home when police arrived after midnight responding to a domestic violence call.
“When the officers arrived at the location, a male suspect got into his vehicle and drove away,” said Officer Jennifer Marlatt, a department spokeswoman.
The man drove east on Yorktown with officers in pursuit. Then, abruptly, he made a U-turn and opened fire on the two approaching patrol cars. “One of the bullets struck an officer in the badge,” Marlatt said.
“The round came through the front windshield of the officer’s car, struck the officer’s badge and deflected off. The round did not go through the badge or hit the officer’s vest,” Marlatt said.
Both officers returned fire, one from the driver’s seat of his moving patrol car, Marlatt said. The officers turned their cars around and continued to chase the man.
“The pursuit reached high speeds and, at one point (near Harbor Boulevard and the 405 freeway), we lost sight of the driver,” Marlatt said. Costa Mesa Police and the Huntington Beach Police Department’s helicopter relocated the suspect’s vehicle and continued the pursuit onto the northbound 55 freeway, eastbound 91 and northbound 15 freeway, with The California Highway Patrol taking over somewhere along the way.
The fleeing man lost control of his car and crashed down an embankment at Cleghorn Road in the Cajon Pass. “His vehicle burst into flames, and he was pronounced (dead) at the scene,” Marlatt said.
Marlatt said the officer whose badge absorbed the impact of a bullet is doing fine.
“Adrenaline kicked in, and he didn’t even know he was hit until he pulled over in Costa Mesa,” Marlatt said of the officer, who has served with Huntington Beach police for 10 years.
The officer is not being identified yet due to the current investigation, authorities said.
Depending on the shape and size of the officer, the exact way the badge is positioned in relation to the bulletproof vest could vary, Marlatt said. In this case, the badge’s position – which was on the edge of his body armor – may have prevented the bullet from striking flesh rather than the officer’s protective vest, saving his life.
The metal of police badges varies by department, but the Huntington Beach badges are 100 grams of pure steel, Marlatt said.
Police Chief Robert Handy, who spoke with the officer in the hospital and, later, at the station said, “He’s doing great. He’s in really good spirits … It’s safe to say the badge saved his life … This officer was very lucky.
“I’m super-proud of these guys,” Handy said.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Department is handling the shooting investigation, and the California Highway Patrol is investigating the pursuit, which spanned about 70 miles, Marlatt said.
