Deputies Fire at Suspect After Crash

Sheriff’s deputies fired at an Oxnard man early Monday after he allegedly rammed a patrol car outside a Camarillo hotel.

No one was hurt in the 4:30 a.m. incident, which started when a clerk saw a pickup truck pull behind the Country Inn Hotel on Del Norte Road. The clerk called the Sheriff’s Department because she thought the driver, parked with the lights off, looked suspicious.

Deputies went to the hotel and questioned the man in the pickup, which authorities say was stolen from an Oxnard home Saturday. When asked to step out of the truck, the man backed up the vehicle suddenly, ramming a patrol car twice, authorities said.

Two deputies each fired once at the man to stop him from ramming the car, Sheriff’s Capt. Keith Parks said. The man stopped and was taken into custody.

Police identified the suspect as Lejon Peterson, 24. Peterson had been released by the California Youth Authority four days earlier and was wanted for not registering with his parole agent, Parks said. Peterson was to be booked into Ventura County Jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, vehicle theft and parole violation.

The names of the deputies involved were not released. The two deputies who fired their guns were placed on paid administrative leave as part of a routine internal investigation.