San Francisco police have identified a man an officer shot at after he allegedly stole a taxicab and then rammed a police car in the city’s Presidio Heights neighborhood early Friday morning, police said.
Peter Russell, 25, of San Francisco, was booked into county jail on suspicion of carjacking, assault with a deadly weapon against a police officer and driving under the influence after his arrest Friday morning, police said.
The incident began around 4:30 a.m. when the taxi was parked near Jackson and Buchanan streets in Pacific Heights and a man began jumping on the hood of the car and shattered its windshield, police spokesman Officer Gordon Shyy said.
The taxi driver fled, fearing for his safety, and the suspect jumped into the car and drove away, Shyy said.
Police soon tracked the car to Jackson and Spruce streets, where officers tried to block the taxi from fleeing.
However, the suspect drove straight at the officers, clipping a patrol car. One officer jumped out of the way and avoided injury while a second fired his service weapon at the suspect, who was not hit, Shyy said.
The suspect fled, but the stolen cab was found again shortly afterward at Bay and Octavia streets near Fort Mason. The vehicle was abandoned, but the suspect, later identified as Russell, was found a half-block away and was taken into custody, according to Shyy.
Dan McMenamin, Bay City News
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