Woman who allegedly drove SUV at deputies is shot in both legs

In a wild scene in the pre-dawn hours Thursday, a 23-year-old woman who barreled a sport-utility vehicle at two Sacramento County sheriff's deputies was shot in both legs, authorities said.

The woman, part of a trio trying to break into a car in a field near a south Sacramento apartment complex, was taken into custody and is expected to survive, sheriff's officials said.

She was identified as Monica Espinosa. She was booked on suspicion of resisting arrest, assault with intent to commit great bodily injury on an officer and violation of parole.

A 23-year-old man who was with her was detained after he fled from deputies while handcuffed, authorities said.

Jason Russell was booked on suspicion of attempted escape after arrest and violation of parole.

A third suspect remains on the loose, said sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran.

Espinosa was the third person shot by a Sacramento sheriff's deputy in just over a month.

The previous two incidents – the April 5 shooting of a motorist who officials said drove his car at a deputy in Fair Oaks and the April 20 shooting of a homicide suspect in Roseville – were later ruled to be within department policy covering officer-involved shootings, Curran said.

The men both died in the previous shootings. The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office is investigating the April 5 case, while the Placer County district attorney is looking into the second shooting.

Sheriff John McGinness said Thursday that officers "have to use force when appropriate" and that "questions about officer-involved shootings are absolutely appropriate, and I wouldn't want to live or work in a society where they are not considered as such."

"I don't want to see our officers shoot anybody, but I also want to see them go home at the end of their shifts," he said.

The latest incident began to unfold about 3:30 a.m. Thursday, when deputies responded to a report that a vehicle was being burglarized in a field adjacent to an apartment complex on the 7200 block of East Parkway. As the deputies approached a white two-door Ford Explorer, a person stripping a nearby car ran, officials said.

One of the deputies gave chase. Russell got out of the Explorer and was handcuffed by the second deputy, authorities said.

As the deputy was handcuffing Russell, the officer looked up to see the Explorer heading "directly toward him," according to a department news release. The deputy opened fire, officials said.

The Explorer continued through the field and headed toward the second deputy, who was chasing the fleeing man, authorities said. The driver of the Explorer – later identified as Espinosa – headed toward the officer "without seeking an alternate escape route," the news release stated.

Fearing for his life, the second deputy opened fire, authorities said. The Explorer came to a stop, and deputies found that Espinosa had been struck several times in the legs.

During the chase, Russell took off, officials said. He was caught about 10 minutes later in the bushes of a nearby property by a sheriff's K-9 unit, Curran said.

Curran said bullets entered the Explorer from both the front and side of the vehicle and that detectives were trying to determine which deputy had shot Espinosa. He said that if it is determined she was shot by bullets that entered through the side of truck as it passed the officer, the deputies would still be justified in firing the shots because she was a fleeing felon.

"She has driven at two law enforcement officers, and she's not going to think about driving at someone else and hitting them," he said. "She's still a threat."

Espinosa and Russell have what Curran described as "extensive" criminal records.

The deputy who fired the first shots is 33 and has been with the Sheriff's Department for seven years. The other officer is 41 and is a 20-year veteran of the department.

Neither deputy's name was released. Both have been placed on paid administrative leave, as is routine in officer-involved shootings, while the case is reviewed.

The shooting will be investigated by the sheriff's homicide and internal affairs units, and the District Attorney's Office.

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