A Los Angeles police officer suffered a head injury when he was attacked by an assailant Saturday night inside the Harbor Division police station in San Pedro, authorities said.
“Some individuals came into the Harbor station, and when an officer went to speak with him, some type of confrontation occurred where we believe an officer was disarmed,” said LAPD Chief Michel Moore.
Early Sunday, Moore tweeted: “Spoke with an officer at the hospital. He is resting and will be ok. Bumps and bruises. He was not shot. Harbor units responding pursued the suspect and took him into custody.”
Assistant Police Chief Horace Frank said the watch commander at the station heard the commotion and came out, when he saw the assailant was hitting the officer and had taken his gun. Frank said the watch commander fired his gun at the suspect, who then fled.
The suspect jumped into a car with a second man and was captured after a short pursuit, Frank said. It does not appear the suspect was hit by the watch commander’s gunfire, he said. The LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division is investigating the incident.
Mayor Eric Garcetti tweeted his support Saturday night for the injured officer. “Sending my best wishes for a quick and full recovery to our @LAPDHQ officer injured in an incident at the Harbor Station tonight. The officer is in stable condition and we’re closely monitoring the situation.”
There have been other violent incidents involving local law enforcement officers in recent days.
On Friday, police said an off-duty LAPD officer was shot at in his car in Reseda by an unknown suspect with a handgun. The officer’s vehicle was struck, but the officer was not injured. That incident remains under investigation.
Saturday’s incident also comes two weeks after two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputies were shot while sitting in a patrol vehicle in Compton.
The two deputies survived but suffered serious injuries. Video shows the gunman fire at them at close range before fleeing, then the deputies exit the vehicle and try to take cover behind a column as they call for backup.
The latest incident also follows a summer of intense protests over police brutality against Black people, in L.A. and around the country, including large demonstrations in which police and protesters have clashed.
Protests have continued in recent days. On Thursday night, protests in Hollywood were interrupted when a large truck and then a Prius drove through the crowd. The driver of the pickup truck hit a woman, sending her flying onto Sunset Boulevard before she was transferred to the hospital.
