ENCINITAS – A sheriff's deputy shot and wounded a man last night on the dark dead end of Ocean View Avenue, authorities said.
Sheriff's officials said the man struggled for the deputy's gun, but the deputy was able to fight him off. The deputy fired three or four times, hitting the man twice in the lower body, Lt. Dennis Brugos said.
A deputy radioed at 6:23 p.m. that shots had been fired on Ocean View near Puebla Street in Encinitas, sheriff's Lt. Edna Ito said.
Ito said no deputies were injured. The wounded man was taken to a hospital. No information about his condition was available, but Brugos said the man's wounds did not appear life-threatening.
Brugos said the wounded man is suspected of passing several bad checks at an Encinitas liquor store since mid-December. He returned about 5:30 p.m., and a deputy saw him later on Ocean View.
One Ocean View Avenue resident said he heard four gunshots and later saw a man on a gurney being wheeled to an ambulance by paramedics. Other residents heard sirens and a sheriff's helicopter.
Carlsbad police also responded after hearing by radio that the deputy who fired the shots wasn't able to immediately find the man because it was so dark. By the time Carlsbad officers arrived, though, the wounded man had been found.
Ocean View Avenue, lined with homes and nursery and landscaping businesses, dead-ends north of Puebla Street and close to Interstate 5.
Pauline Repard: (619) 293-1893; pauline.repard@uniontrib.com
