See the update at the end of this post identifying the driver.
ORIGINAL POST, AUG. 28, 10:21 A.M.: A police chase that began early today on the 5 freeway near the 91 freeway interchange ended at a (literal) dead end near Palo Verde Avenue and Artesia Boulevard in Bellflower around 3 a.m., when an officer fatally shot the suspect driver. The law enforcement agency that initiated the chase and whose cop pulled the trigger? The problem-plagued Fullerton Police Department.
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Sad to say, but had the triggerman been, say, a Fountain Valley police officer, this incident may have not generated a post on this blog because, sadder to say, such incidents are fairly routine. But with the Kelly Thomas murder, every Fullerton police action gets put under the media microscope, although the guns-ablazing Anaheim Police Department is also coming on strong.
This morning's SUV motorist was allegedly driving erratically on the freeway when a Fullerton officer tried to pull him over. But the driver would not stop, reportedly, leading a 20-minute chase on freeways and surface streets that exceeded speeds of 90 mph.
The end came when the driver pulled into the Bellflower cul de sac that butts up to freeway lanes. After the SUV crashed into a tree with three police cars in tow, the driver allegedly turned the vehicle to face the law enforcement units with multiple officers inside them, according to the investigating Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Fearing for their safety, officers opened fire, killing the suspect, who was only identified as being 25 to 30 years old. No officers were injured.
UPDATE, AUG. 29, 1:54 P.M.: The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has identified the dead driver as Christopher Shull, 25, of Anaheim.
He backed up at high speeds at the officers who shot him, according to department spokesmen. Shull was pronounced dead at the scene.
He was driving on a suspended license, reports the Orange County Register, which also cites court records showing Shull was on probation and had numerous misdemeanor arrests
for assault, battery, driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs,
resisting a police officer, domestic violence and violating protective
orders.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.