Off-Duty Policeman Hit, Dragged by Truck After Wounding Driver

An off-duty Los Angeles police officer moonlighting as an assistant restaurant manager escaped serious injury Sunday when he shot and wounded a disgruntled patron who was trying to run him down with a pickup truck, police said.

Paul Rodriguez, 27, the driver, was struck in the jaw by one of two shots fired by Officer Patrick Green, 37, Detective Charles Humphrey said. Rodriguez was in serious but stable condition at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank.

Green, who was dragged by the truck, was treated at Sherman Oaks Community Hospital and released.

Humphrey said Green had asked four men who were creating a disturbance about 1 a.m. to leave Stanley’s Restaurant & Bar in the 13800 block of Ventura Boulevard. The men left but returned in a pickup truck and threatened Green outside the popular nightspot.

The suspects backed up the truck and sped toward Green, who fired two shots, Humphrey said. The truck struck Green and dragged him until it left the sidewalk.

The truck headed west on Ventura Boulevard, but hit a car in which a family was riding. All four people in the second car suffered minor injuries and the vehicle sustained major damage. They were treated at Sherman Oaks Community Hospital and released, Humphrey said.

The suspects drove to St. Joseph Medical Center, where the driver was taken into surgery for his wound, and hospital officials notified police, Humphrey said.

Officers arrested three other suspects at the hospital, but two of them were later released. Robert Yeko, 19, was taken to Van Nuys Jail, where he was held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer.

A police spokesman said Rodriguez would be arrested on the same charge as soon as his condition has stabilized. No bail had been set.