Hit-Run Driving Suspect Killed in Fight With Officer

An off-duty Los Angeles policeman shot and killed a man who attacked him with a baseball bat in Sepulveda while the officer was investigating a hit-and-run accident, a police spokesman said Thursday.

Officer Robert W. Weber shot Javier Perez five times in the chest Wednesday night after Perez attacked him in the driveway behind a condominium in the 15700 block of Nordhoff Street, police said.

Perez, 28, of San Fernando was pronounced dead at the scene about 9:45 p.m.

Weber, 40, an 18-year police veteran assigned to the Metro Division, was treated at Valley Hospital Medical Center in Van Nuys for cuts and bruises and a possible separated shoulder.

A Police Department statement gave this account of the incident:

Weber was driving south on the San Diego Freeway at about 9:15 p.m. when he saw a pickup truck weaving in the slow lane behind him.

Weber got off the freeway at Nordhoff. He saw the pickup take the same exit and strike the rear of a car. The driver of the pickup, later identified as Perez, and a passenger, Jeffrey Roth, 23, of Sylmar, got out to inspect the truck.

The men got back in the truck and sped west on Nordhoff. Weber chased the truck into a dead-end driveway behind the condominium and the two men approached him as he got out of his car.

Weber identified himself and displayed his police identification card. Perez then began punching Weber, who fought back.

Roth pulled his companion away but Perez broke free and continued attacking Weber before Perez and Roth ran to the back of the condominium.

Asks Residents for Help

Weber, again identifying himself as a police officer, asked nearby tenants for help. As Weber returned to his car, Perez and Roth came back and Roth struck the officer several times with a 12-ounce can of beer. Roth threw the can at the officer but missed him.

Responding to Weber’s calls for help, Carlos Chacon, 29, gave Weber a baseball bat. But, as Weber pursued the suspects, he dropped the bat. Perez picked it up and struck the officer several times as Roth grabbed the officer by the jacket from behind.

Weber wriggled free of the jacket and, nearing exhaustion, drew his .38-caliber service revolver and shot Perez twice.

3 More Shots

Perez continued to swing the bat and the officer fired three more shots, killing Perez.

Roth, who was uninjured, ran away and was found 15 minutes later, hiding beneath the San Diego Freeway.

He was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer. He was being held Thursday in Van Nuys Jail in lieu of $18,000 bail.

The shooting is being investigated by the Police Department.