A 29-year-old man accused of grabbing a police officer’s gun, firing off a round and biting a police sergeant while refusing to leave the lobby of the Fountain Valley Police Department is now facing multiple felonies, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said on Wednesday, Dec. 24.
Walter Corea Sanchez was charged with assaulting a police officer, resisting an officer, grossly negligent discharge of a firearm and other allegations, according to a DA’s Office statement.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday, Dec. 23, court records show.
Shortly before 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 19, Sanchez entered the lobby and began yelling and “acting erratically” when officers tried to speak with him, prosecutors said. For 10 minutes, prosecutors added, Sanchez paced back and forth, yelling at the officers and civilian staff and “raising his hands” toward the faces of several officers.
Officers walked Sanchez out of the lobby, prosecutors said, and warned him that if he tried to re-enter he would be arrested. But Sanchez followed officers back inside, prosecutors said.
Sanchez, prosecutors alleged, after again being told to leave, placed a backpack he was wearing on the ground and tried to “take something out.” The officers moved in to arrest him.
As the officers were pulling Sanchez to the ground, prosecutors said, Sanchez grabbed one of their guns, pulled the trigger and fired off a round.
No one was struck.
Prosecutors also allege that Sanchez bit a sergeant, one of four officers who took part in the arrest. The sergeant had used his Taser on Sanchez multiple times, prosecutors added.
Sanchez was on probation after, earlier this year, pleading guilty to resisting an officer, according to the DA’s Office statement. Details of that incident were not immediately available.
“A police badge should not be a target on the back of our law enforcement officers, our sworn protectors,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer in a statement.
“A willingness to attack a uniformed police officer, grab the officer’s gun and fire it in an attempt to avoid arrest shows a complete disregard for the rule of law and the safety of our communities, and we will prosecute those acts of violence to the fullest extent of the law,” he said.
“We are so grateful that these officers were not seriously injured in what could have easily turned into a deadly tragedy,” the DA added.
If convicted as charged, Sanchez faces up to 31 years and eight months in state prison.