The Alameda County Sheriff's Department says the sergeant shot the man after he began beating her. She is now in the hospital recovering from head injuries.
The officer on patrol overnight in Dublin wanted to know why a homeless man was walking in an industrial area at 1:30 a.m. but when she stopped to talk to him she says he turned violent. She called in to say she needed help and that the man had hit her in the head. Her next call was to report she had shot the man.
The sergeant was alone during the incident but other officers arrived on scene shortly after the shooting. She is a 20 year veteran of the police force.
"The deputies were already on their way as soon as she said she was off with a suspicious person, so that was already getting deputies to respond this way so by the call came out of shots fired, less than a minute a deputy was here," Alameda County Sheriff's Department spokesperson J.D. Nelson said.
Police do not know if the man was armed with a weapon like a gun or a knife; they do not know what he used to strike the officer in the head. The man's identity has not been revealed to the media but police say he is a well known transient who has been arrested several times before, including for violent crimes such as fighting. They believe he was about 50 years old.
The southbound offramp to Dublin Boulevard from I-680 was closed during the police investigation.
