Livermore police investigate officer-involved shooting during DUI stop; 1 hurt

LIVERMORE, Calif. (KGO) -- Livermore police shot a man in his thigh on Wednesday morning around 3:30 when they say he appeared to be driving his car in their direction.

Officers had pulled a man in a white sedan over on Airway Boulevard at I-580 on suspicion of driving under the influence. They were about to conduct a field sobriety test on him when another car, a black Kia Soul, started heading their way.

"The driver of the vehicle all of a sudden approached from Airway Boulevard and made a hard turn into the direction of the officers and the person they were speaking with. The officers at that point took an immediate action. They discharged their firearms. The driver of the black vehicle was able to make a U-turn, at which point it stopped and the officers were able to take the driver of that vehicle into custody," said Officer Art Rosas with the Livermore Police Department.

He says investigators do not know why the driver would have wanted to hurt the officers.

"As far as we know, there was not any sort of connection whatsoever between the two drivers or vehicles," Officer Rosas said.

They were not able to conduct the field sobriety test and the driver who was originally pulled over became a witness in the officer-involved shooting.

Officer Rosas was asked at a press conference if the driver's actions possibly looked threatening but instead was just someone making a U-turn in the dark that mistakenly swerved too closely to the officers.

"There are many possibilities but for all intents and purposes, based on the information we have looking at, the positioning of the vehicles, and the manner in which the tire marks indicate that the vehicle was traveling, it would demonstrate that the driver of the black vehicle took a very intentional action to make that turn in the direction of officers and the other driver," Officer Rosas said.

The man who was shot in the thigh was taken away in handcuffs in an ambulance. He was conscious and was sitting up and talking.

Airway Boulevard next to the Starbucks at I-580 is expected to be closed to cars for most of the day.