VENTURA COUNTY, CA – The Ventura County Sheriff’s Office has reported an incident where a suspect allegedly used his personal vehicle launch an attack against a VCSO patrol vehicle by way of ramming the vehicle twice – while a patrol sergeant was inside driving the vehicle.
Ventura County Sheriff’s Sergeant’s SUV Overturns After Being Rammed, Suspect Arrested For Attempted Murder https://t.co/xfD6KPCKze
— 101stmonk3y (@101stmonk3y) August 19, 2020
The incident reportedly took place on August 18th at approximately 2:00 a.m. on Los Angeles Avenue. According to authorities, 29-year-old Frankie Avalos used his car to ram a 37-year veteran sergeant for the VCSO from the rear.
Frankie Avalos – Ventura County Sheriff’s Office
Initially, the sergeant has fathomed that the driver may have fallen asleep at the wheel or may have been intoxicated, considering the time in which the first ram transpired. Officials say that the sergeant increased his speed and even changed lanes to avoid further ramming.
However, Avalos was said to have continued the vehicular assault against the sergeant and rammed his vehicle a second time. After the second impact, the sergeant lost control of the SUV and spun the vehicle out which resulted in the car overturning.
Images of the overturned VCSO SUV shows the marred state of the vehicle, with the front windshield having been divorced from its proper installment.
UNPROVOKED ATTACK: A suspect twice used his vehicle to ram into our HQ patrol Sgt’s cruiser early this morning in Saticoy, causing the Sgt’s unit to overturn. Sgt. has minor injuries, and suspect in custody. pic.twitter.com/QU9clLQpc0
— Ventura Co. Sheriff (@VENTURASHERIFF) August 18, 2020
Luckily, the sergeant only suffered minor injuries from his vehicle overturning and was able to alert dispatch about the driver who had struck him.
A deputy was said to have given chase after the reported vehicular assault, and pursued Avalos. Unsurprisingly, that pursuit also ended in another crash and the suspect was subsequently taken into custody.
Avalos was arrested for attempted murder of a police officer.
This is a developing story, please follow Law Enforcement Today to receives updates as the investigation progresses.
In other investigations involving injured officers, police in Seattle, Washington came under attack during yet another one of these “peaceful protests” we hear so much about.
In Seattle’s South of Downtown area, typically referred to as SoDo, a protest that morphed into a riot on the evening of August 16th, resulted in 18 people being arrested and three officers being injured by rioters.
An anti-police union protest in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood was declared a riot Sunday night after demonstrators threw explosives and bottles at police officers and tried to break windows on a police cruiser. https://t.co/rFXLT45RR9
— WNDU (@WNDU) August 17, 2020
A protest, and then subsequent riot, was staged against the police union in Seattle on August 16th. Considering that anti-police sentiments tend to focus a strong stance against the existence of police unions, it’s with little surprise that agitators resorted to violent acts against police tasked with maintaining order.
According to the press release from Seattle’s Public Affairs office, the following was noted about the onset of the demonstration that turned violent:
“The anti-police union march began in the International District around 7:00 PM. There were approximately 100 individuals accompanied by vehicles following behind. The group moved toward the Seattle Police Officer Guild building in the 2900 block of 4th Avenue South.”
In just under three hours after the protest and march started, that’s when explosives were set off by the rioters, and a police vehicle was damaged. After such acts were committed, police on the site of the protest issued orders for the crowd to disband:
“The incident commander issued an order to disperse to the crowd at that time. Individuals in the crowd began throwing rocks and bottles at officers. Multiple explosives were thrown toward officers. Officers moved the crowd northbound on 4th Avenue South. Several officers were struck by explosives and injured.”
[embedded content]Upon the occurrence of officer injuries, additional units were dispatched to 4 Avenue South. Injured officers were treated on site by the Seattle Fire Department, and the riot was officially declared.
After the protest was declared as such, police were said to have used blast balls and OC spray to cease the assaults taking place against police. Officials say that the crowd eventually dispersed after the employment of riot-control techniques.
All of the arrested parties were subsequently booked into the King County Jail, whereas one of the three officers injured required hospitalization.
Photos released by the Public Affairs office showcased one officer having suffered a bruise and burn from one explosive thrown at his face, and a female officer suffering a burn to the back of her neck from an explosive.
Injury to eye after explosive was thrown toward officer – Seattle Public Affairs office
Burn injury to neck after explosive was thrown toward officer – Seattle Public Affairs office
Officials are still investigating events that took place during the riot.
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