23 Jan Man Shot by Richmond Detective on I-80 Was Holding Metal Object

(Richmond Police Department via Bay City News)

By Bay City News

A Richmond police detective who pulled over to help a motorist on Interstate Highway 80 Thursday morning instead wound up in an altercation and fatally shooting the man, who was reportedly holding a metal object that he had been swinging at passing cars, police said.

The plainclothes detective encountered the man, whose name wasn’t released, about 7:20 a.m. on westbound I-80 in Hercules near state Highway 4, Richmond police said in a news release.

The man was standing by a gold Nissan sedan that was blocking the far left lane of the freeway, so the detective stopped and activated their emergency lights for what appeared to be a stranded motorist, police said.

The man was holding a metal object and may have been swinging it at cars on the freeway before the detective arrived.

“During the encounter, an altercation occurred with the individual, and the detective discharged their service weapon, striking the individual,” police said.

Emergency medical crews gave the man first aid and he was taken to a trauma center, where he died. The detective suffered minor injuries and was treated at a hospital.

Police believe that the man’s car was the same one that had reportedly been driving recklessly about an hour before.

At about 6:35 a.m., the California Highway Patrol received calls about a gold or gray Nissan sedan driving westbound on I-80 through Vallejo. The car was reportedly being driven at high speeds, cutting in and out of traffic, and had been involved in several collisions.

“At one point, callers reported the vehicle’s hood had flown up, obstructing the windshield, yet the vehicle continued to travel,” Richmond police said.

The detective, who was in civilian clothes, wasn’t required to wear a body-worn camera, police said.

The California Attorney General’s Office is leading the investigation into the shooting.

California Assembly Bill 1506 requires an independent state investigation anytime a law enforcement officer shoots and kills an unarmed civilian. The shooting doesn’t explicitly fall under the bill’s mandate, but the Attorney General’s office “has assumed the lead role due to the dynamics of the incident,” according to Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Ted Asregadoo.

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