A man who was arrested after a high-speed chase from the East Bay to the South Bay and a shooting that injured a police officer Saturday afternoon appeared in court this afternoon.
Jeffrey Ruano, 50, of San Francisco, was scheduled to be arraigned today on assault with a deadly weapon and ammunition possession charges stemming from an incident that began in San Francisco’s Mission District. However his arraignment was postponed until Friday morning.
Ruano walked into San Francisco Superior Court this afternoon shackled at the ankles and wrists and wearing red and orange prison garb. He is being held on $500,000 bail.
San Francisco District Attorney’s Office spokesman Alex Bastian said no charges have been filed against Ruano in connection with the shooting, in which an officer was struck by a bullet that could have been fired by a fellow officer. The deadly weapon is considered to be his vehicle.
Officer Adam Shaw (photo above), 28, a six-year veteran of the San Francisco police force, was shot in the left bicep after responding to a report of vandalism near the 1300 block of Florida Street around 2:45 p.m. Saturday.
Police said earlier this week that Shaw may have been struck by his partner when the two responded to the report of malicious activity near Garfield Square.
Shaw and his partner drove to the area of the vandalism report in a marked patrol car and pulled over a vehicle.
Both officers got out of the car and Shaw went up to the suspect vehicle to talk to the driver, later identified as Ruano, when the driver backed up toward the officers, according to police.
Shaw’s partner opened fire and Shaw was hit by a bullet. Police initially said Shaw had been hit by the suspect.
He is recovering at San Francisco General Hospital today after undergoing surgery following the shooting, according to police.
The bullet that injured Shaw has yet to be recovered, according to police.
Police did not release more details today about the investigation into who fired the bullet that injured Shaw.
Ruano was able to drive away and his car was later found abandoned in Daly City, according to police.
He was spotted around 11 p.m. in a white car in Richmond. Officers tried to pull him over, but Ruano, who also had two females in the car, refused to stop and a chase ensued.
The high-speed chase went from Richmond to Danville to San Jose, where he was arrested early Sunday morning.
He was allegedly found with a .38-caliber cartridge in his pants pocket but no gun, according to police.
Outside of court, Ruano’s public defender Stephen Olmo said his client didn’t have a gun on him and that the police were too quick to use deadly force when responding to the incident in the Mission District.
Olmo questioned why officers fired “six to seven rounds” on a “busy street near a school on a Saturday afternoon.”
“Citizens should be concerned,” he said.
In court, Deputy District Attorney Aaron Laycook called Ruano “a danger to public safety.”
Ruano had previously been convicted for a high-speed police chase that occurred in November 1997 in San Mateo County. In that case, he evaded police in a stolen car and narcotics were found in the vehicle.
He was sentenced to 11 years and four months in county jail, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
