SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif. — A California Highway Patrol officer is home recovering Sunday from a gunshot wound he suffered during a struggle with a motorist who allegedly tried to grab the lawman's gun after getting into a solo accident in Mission Valley.
The arraignment for 25-year-old Yuhao Du, who is accused of shooting the CHP officer in the leg on the I-8 freeway, was postponed Friday due to undisclosed medical reasons. A new arraignment date was set for Tuesday, May 3.
The events that led to the shooting began about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, when Du of San Diego crashed his vehicle on eastbound I-8 near the I-805 overpass, according to the CHP.
A short time later, CHP Officer Antonio "Tony" Pacheco pulled over alongside the freeway at the site of the wreck and contacted Du, who was standing in the center-median area, CHP spokesman Jake Sanchez said.
As Pacheco was speaking with him, Du allegedly attacked him without warning, "lunging for his service gun" and "trying to take control of it," Sanchez said.
As the two men grappled over the pistol, it went off, wounding Pacheco in the thigh.
"The struggle continued, at which point several passing motorists stopped to assist the injured officer by providing medical aid and restraining Du until additional law enforcement personnel arrived," Sanchez said.
Paramedics took Pacheco to Scripps Mercy Hospital, where he was admitted in stable condition.
The gunshot injuries suffered by Pacheco, who has two young children and whose wife, Janette, is pregnant, will require "a lengthy rehabilitation and potential surgeries," according to a GoFundMe.com page seeking donations to help the family with expenses during his recuperation.
Commenting on the seemingly random burst of roadside violence, CHP Chief Scott Parker said he was "extremely grateful for the members of the public who put themselves in harm's way to help our officer after he was shot in the leg."
"This incident could have ended in a greater tragedy had those individuals not intervened," Parker noted.
Du was booked into San Diego Central Jail on suspicion of attempted murder of a peace officer, assault with a firearm causing great bodily injury and attempting to take a law officer's gun. UC San Diego officials confirmed that Du is a graduate student there studying physics.
WATCH RELATED: Officer shot on Interstate 8 identified (Apr 28, 2022)