A suspected DUI driver, with young children in his vehicle, was at the center of a Seal Beach officer-involved shooting, and will face felony charges.
Saturday evening, Seal Beach police responded to a four-car pile-up at Seal Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway.
While officers were investigating the collision, the officers received a separate call of a suspected drunk driver, later identified as Oscar Eduardo Mercado, 23 of Long Beach, heading north on Pacific Coast Highway.
One Seal Beach officer, on foot, was deliberately struck by a suspected drunk driver’s vehicle, according to Seal Beach Police. That officer then fired his duty weapon at the driver’s front window. No one was injured by the gunshot, according to Nicholas.
Mercado drove northbound on Pacific Coast Highway at a high rate of speed. His vehicle collided with the driver’s side of a Seal Beach police car, Nicholas said. Mercado’s vehicle then careened into another, uninvolved vehicle head-on where it came to rest, according to Nicholas.
Mercado ditched the vehicle, leaving his 12-year- old younger brother inside the car. He grabbed his four-year-old daughter, and took off on foot, according to Nicholas.
Police tracked down Mercado, grabbed the 4-year-old girl from his grasp, and then Tased him to take him into custody.
Mercado was taken to a local hospital for evaluation and later booked into the Orange County Jail.
“Once the officers discovered there were children involved in this incident, they immediately put the safety and well-being of the children first,” Seal Beach police Chief Philip L. Gonshak said.
“The officers’ efforts should be commended as all off the children involved are safe at home with their family,” Gonshak said.
The officer who was initially struck by Mercado’s vehicle was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said. The second officer hit as the suspect tried to flee was also taken to the hospital to be evaluated.
There was no word about the condition of the person or people in the second vehicle hit by the suspect.
Mercado was booked on a felony hit-and-run charge, as well as assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, felony child endangerment of two children, and resisting or delaying a peace officer with violence.
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