LA MESA, Calif. – Authorities are searching for the driver of a stolen car who allegedly assaulted a La Mesa police officer and then crashed the car in the Lake Murray area and escaped on foot Thursday morning.
The incident happened sometime before 10:30 a.m. La Mesa police were following a car that had been reported stolen when the suspect driver stopped the car and got out. The suspect then assaulted an officer, police said, got back into the car and drove away, police said.
He crashed the car into a fence on the property of a home in the 5500 block of Maryland Avenue and ran from the scene. The officer was not seriously hurt.
The suspect was described as white, bald and covered in tattoos.
Police were searching the area on the ground and in the air with a helicopter. As of 12 p.m., he was still at large.
