CALIFORNIA DEPUTY INJURED AFTER BEING DRAGGED BY OFF-ROAD CAR

A sheriff's deputy was dragged several feet by an off-road vehicle, prompting his partner to fire a shot at the driver, authorities said Sunday. No one was hit, and the off-road vehicle’s driver is under arrest. At about 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Riverside County Sheriff's deputies from the Lake Elsinore and Perris stations contacted two people who were illegally driving an off-road vehicle known as a Rhino in the unincorporated county area south of Perris and west of Kabian County Park.

Deputies ordered the driver, William Mindey, 22, to exit the Rhino, but Mindey refused and accelerated as a deputy attempted to arrest him, knocking the deputy down before dragging him several feet, Deputy Chris Durham of the Riverside County Sheriff's Department's Lake Elsinore Station said.

While the deputy was being dragged, his partner, a four-year veteran of the Sheriff's Department, fired a shot at Mindey but missed, Durham said. Mindey and a passenger fled the scene and were later apprehended near the intersection of Goetz Road and Canyon Drive in Quail Valley, Durham said.

The deputy who was dragged suffered minor wounds to his left leg and arm and was treated at an area hospital and released. Mindey, a resident of Good Hope, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer and booked into the Southwest Detention Center.