By Lyndsay Winkley
The San Diego Union-Tribune
CARLSBAD, Calif. — In a video released by the Carlsbad Police Department on Thursday, an officer is shown being struck by a skateboard in a surprise attack two months ago that prompted him to shoot at his assailant.
The incident happened about 11:15 p.m. on March 29.
Officer Michael McKinney was driving a patrol car on Carlsbad Village Drive, headed under Interstate 5, when a rock struck the vehicle, destroying its spotlight and damaging the windshield, police said.
Click below to see full video.
McKinney called for a supervisor and pulled into a nearby shopping center. As the officer and his sergeant inspected the damage, a man ran up behind McKinney and hit him with the skateboard, police said.
Body-worn camera video of the incident captured the assailant, whose face and hands were covered, smashing the underside of the board across McKinney’s head. Its clear in the footage that the officer thought he’d been shot. As he sought cover, the officer fired three shots at his attacker who was running across the parking lot.
No one was struck.
As the sergeant chased after the assailant, a large rock fell from the man’s pocket, video of the incident shows. Police said the rock resembled one investigators found under the freeway where McKinney’s patrol car was struck and damaged.
Additional officers responded, and the suspect, identified as 32-year-old Kyle McCord, was arrested about three blocks away.
Meanwhile, other officers took McKinney to a nearby fire station to be treated. “I got shot,” he can be heard saying to an approaching firefighter. The officer was eventually hospitalized with a skull fracture, a brain bleed and a concussion.
McCord was booked into jail on suspicion of attempting to murder a police officer and committing a felony while on bond or bail.
This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune.
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