SAN DIEGO : Motorist Shot by Police Is Identified
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The man shot and wounded by a police officer on a San Diego freeway was identified Thursday as Lester Robert Evans of East San Diego.
Evans, 51, was shot in the neck Wednesday and taken to Mercy Hospital, where he was treated and released while in police custody Thursday, officials said.
Evans was driving a stolen car when he was pulled over on the Pershing Drive exit ramp from northbound Interstate 5 by four San Diego police detectives in three unmarked police cars Wednesday afternoon, a police spokesman said.
Police said Evans saw and recognized the plainclothes officer, with gun drawn, coming toward the car and stepped on the gas, accelerating toward the policeman.
The officer fired at Evans through the closed driver’s side window, and a single bullet struck him in the neck, police said.
A woman passenger was unhurt. She was questioned by police as a witness and released.
Police said the detectives had been watching Evans in East San Diego for several hours before the shooting. Evans was arrested and booked on suspicion of auto theft and assault with a deadly weapon, police said.
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