MADERA, Calif. – A police officer and civilian ride-along fortunately survived a shooting during a high-speed chase early Sunday morning. A dashboard camera captured the incident.
Madera Chief of Police Steve Frazier told the press that Officer Jullian Garcia attempted to pull over a motorist, around 4:30 a.m., due to a busted headlight. He had a civilian ride-along at the time, according to abcNEWS report, when the vehicle fled.
Garcia was “effectively a brand new officer” and just completed field training two weeks ago. The civilian woman, who requested not to be identified, was a member of the city’s Citizen Police Academy, Frazier said.
According to Frazier, everything was fairly normal at the start and nothing overly suspicious about the suspect’s Mazda vehicle. The vehicle seemed to slow down but suddenly changed speed disobeying the police officer’s order to pull over. The situation escalated into a chase, and the woman can be heard pleading for the officer to stop the pursuit as shots were fired at the police unit from the passenger side of the suspect vehicle.
GMA reported the incident in this tweeted video with quoted words from the woman.
WATCH: Civilian ride-along ends with car chase and shootout: https://t.co/fTN2Rf34G5 https://t.co/78OmBEzbZ8
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 24, 2016
The suspects fired 14 rounds at the patrol car, according to Frazier, and the gunfire could be seen and heard from the video. One round struck the right rear tire, two rounds hit the cruiser’s window and another flew wildly into a home, through a bedroom, and lodged in a stack of clothes.
As the patrol car was disabled, the suspects exited their vehicle and fled on foot. Frazier said no suspects were arrested, but they had many leads. “We know there were two people in the vehicle,” he said.
The officer and the civilian survived the incident with the woman sustaining minor cuts due to broken glass.
Photos of the aftermath were posted in City of Madera Police Department’s Facebook page showing the patrol car’s shattered windows.
This gun was also found in the Mazda. The Madera Police Department described it as AR15 style pistol.
Chief Frazier gratefully said at the news conference, “By the grace of God, this officer and this civilian ride-along are with us today because the individuals that they were trying to stop clearly [had] other designs.”
The investigation is ongoing into identifying all persons in the vehicle. If you have any information, please contact Detective Sergeant Johnny Smith at 559-675-4291.