L.A. sheriff: Investigation to look at gunfire that ended car chase
Deputies fired 120 shots at SUV
LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Investigations are under way to determine why sheriff's deputies fired about 120 shots at a vehicle to end a car chase in Compton, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca said Tuesday.
The suspect, identified by Baca as Winston Hayes, 44, was found to be unarmed, but has an arrest record for narcotics and assaults.
Hayes was wounded, but Baca said the injuries were not life threatening. One deputy was also injured, he said, possibly by friendly fire.
Baca said the district attorney's office and sheriff's department were conducting investigations into the incident, including whether the massive amount of police gunfire was appropriate.
"We're going to look at every aspect of this shooting, we're going to examine the intensity of what occurred, we're going to examine our policy, and we're going to again learn from this there is no such thing as a safe shooting anywhere in urban America," Baca said.
Still, he acknowledged, "We can do better. No matter what the circumstances are, we can always to better."
Baca said reports of gunfire in the neighborhood -- an area of Compton that has seen a increase in gang-related gunfire, according to The Associated Press -- brought the deputies to the scene. A white SUV was reportedly involved, Baca told AP.
Hayes was driving a white Chevrolet Tahoe SUV, AP reported.
"(The suspect) had been circling the block for about four hours, in a strange manner," Baca said on CNN's "American Morning."
After a 12-minute car chase, officers surrounded the vehicle and opened fire, an event captured on video by by a news photographer alerted to the incident by a police scanner.
The sheriff said the vehicle was moving backward toward deputies at one point during the incident.
A deputy who appears on the videotape to have fallen just before the shooting started may have triggered the barrage, Baca said.
Some people who live nearby reported their homes were hit by bullets as well.
None of the deputies involved will be allowed to return to active duty for five business days, and then only after being interviewed by psychologists, Baca said.
"They're going to look at what was the triggering point for the shooting," he said.
It could be "a couple of weeks" before investigators know much more, he said.
Meanwhile, Hayes will be charged with evading a peace officer and assault with a deadly weapon, in this case, the vehicle, police said.
According to the AP, Baca said while no weapon was found in the suspect's vehicle, investigators did find a dozen shell casings in the area where the chase began.
Baca blamed Hayes for leading his deputies on a chase in the first place. "He should have just let them pull him over and do their investigation and we would not have any of this."
CNN's Mark Norman and Maria White contributed to this report.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
