Indio Police Shoot At Suspects After Car Chase

Indio police officers shot at the driver and passenger of 2-door sedan early Sunday morning after a car chase ended just south of Avenue 48.

In a news release, police investigators said officers tried to pull the car over heading southbound on Calhoun Street at 1:30 a.m, and the driver refused to pull over.

Police pursued the car as it continued down Calhoun into the City of Coachella, where the driver tried to turn onto the small residential street of El Mar and crashed into some shrubbery.

The driver and passenger got out of the car, police said, and that’s when a police officer shot at them. Neither person was hit, and a manhunt started in the residential area.

Officers set up a perimeter, and found a 17-year-old male who was identified as the passenger of the car, and a handgun was found in a nearby backyard.

It’s not clear if the suspects fired their gun at any point.

The driver of the car, described only as a Hispanic male, is still missing, police said.

The identity of the officer who shot his revolver is a three year veteran of the Indio Police Department is being withheld. The department’s policy placed him or her on paid administrative leave.

The Riverside Sheriff?s Central Homicide Unit, with the assistance of detectives from the Coachella Police Department and Indio Police Department are conducting the investigation.