Video captures chase, shootout with terrified passenger in police car
MADERA, Calif. -- A manhunt is underway in California for suspects who opened fire on a police officer cruiser with a terrified civilian in the passenger seat. The cop car’s dash cam captured the gunfire during the pursuit.
Early Sunday morning, a Madera police officer pulled over a Mazda SUV for a minor traffic violation, reports CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy.
“He’s not stopping? You’re kidding me, right?” the passenger could be heard saying.
Sitting in the officer’s passenger seat, a female civilian was taking part in a ride-along.
“We try to teach the citizens of our town and community what law enforcement is … We want to give them the full gamut and scope of what the job entails, and she was doing one of those ride-alongs,” Lt. Gino Chiaramonte said.
The car took off, and the officer turned on his sirens and pursued. Moments later the civilian passenger noticed something terrifying.
“He has a gun! No, no, no!” she said.
Around a dozen shots were fired. Two bullets pierced through the front windshield, narrowly missing the woman who was noticeably shaken.
“You ok?” the officer asked the crying passenger.
The officer ended the chase after his patrol car was disabled. The suspect’s vehicle was found abandoned with an AR15-style pistol nearby.
“The round that went through the top window actually got lodged, just left of the headrest as the passenger would be sitting,” Chiaramonte said.
The names of the officer, who was in just his second week working solo, and the civilian involved have not been released and police are still searching for the suspects.
The officer wasn’t hurt, but the woman riding along was scratched by broken glass.