2 Wounded in Separate Shootings : CHP Officer Hit by Driver; Deputy Felled in Raid Shoot-Out

A California Highway Patrol officer and a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy were both fighting for their lives Saturday night after being shot in the head in separate incidents in Los Angeles.

Police were seeking a man who shot the CHP patrolman in the face after being stopped for a routine traffic violation Saturday morning in Glassell Park. Tino Silva, 25, of Glendale is suspected in connection with the shooting of Officer Gary Baker, who was in critical condition at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, authorities said.

Baker, a Verdugo Hills Division motorcycle patrolman, stopped a car that was speeding down a quiet residential street near a freeway off-ramp about 8:20 a.m., CHP spokesman Mike Maas said.

A team of neurologists worked on Baker, 32, for five hours. Authorities said the bullet entered Baker’s cheek and lodged in his brain. He is a 10-year veteran of the CHP, Maas said.

Meanwhile, a Sheriff’s Department deputy was in extremely critical condition and a 20-year-old suspect is dead after a gun battle in South-Central Los Angeles that erupted when police tried to enter a house to search for cocaine.

Deputy Jack B. Miller, 33, a 12-year veteran, underwent seven hours of surgery Friday night at County-USC Medical Center, Deputy Kathryn Nielsen said.

Nielsen said Miller was shot in the head, and a second deputy was hit in the arm, when suspects in a house in the 1400 block of West 55th Street began firing at six deputies who were serving a search warrant on them about 7 p.m. Friday.

In the CHP incident, Baker stopped the silver-blue Datsun 300 ZX sports car Silva was driving on York Boulevard just west of the Glendale Freeway.

Maas said the driver got out and struggled with the officer for about five minutes, then pulled out a handgun, shot Baker in the left side of his face and sped off.

“I came out of my house to get my paper and I saw the officer talking to him (the driver) and the guy was waving his hands around,” said Paul Corlew, who has lived on the 4100 block of York Boulevard for 17 years. “I went back in and heard the shot and within seconds I saw the officer lying on the pavement bleeding.”

His gun still in his holster, Baker lay on his right side, trying to take off his helmet and wipe the blood off his face. One resident used the police radio to call for help, police spokesmen and witnesses said.

Baker was rushed to the hospital, spokesmen said, but his blood-spattered sunglasses and billy club lay behind police lines for most of the day, as CHP officers, Sheriff’s deputies and LAPD officers investigated.

Baker did not have time to take his gun out of his holster before he was shot, CHP Southern Division Cmdr. Edward Gomez said.

In Friday night’s gun battle in South-Central Los Angeles, four suspects surrendered immediately after Deputy Miller was shot. A fifth suspect--who was known to still be in the house--was discovered dead hours later after a SWAT team stormed the residence. The dead man, 20, was not identified pending notification of relatives. Deputies said it was not yet known whose gunfire had killed him.

Deputies discovered four handguns, a rifle and 202 grams of cocaine worth an estimated street value of $40,000.

Dorothy Waters, 41, a resident of the house, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and possession of cocaine for sale. Two unidentified adults who surrendered were questioned and released, and a 17-year-old youth who surrendered was being held without charges, police said.

Sheriff’s deputies said that in addition to the injuries to Miller, the 17-year-old and a second deputy were each shot in the arm.

Deputy John Dickenson, 29, an eight-year veteran, was listed in fair condition at Daniel Freeman Memorial Medical Center.

Deputies said the 17-year-old, who was not identified because of his age, was grazed by bullets during the initial gunfire and was shot in the arm later when he tried to escape from an ambulance.

Sheriff’s Department spokesman Hal Grant said the youth complained to Deputy Enedina Cortez that his handcuffs were too tight, then lunged for her gun when she attempted to loosen the cuffs.

“They struggled over the gun and he was shot,” Grant said.

The boy was taken to the County-USC Medical Center jail ward after being treated for two graze wounds and the more serious wound to his arm, he said.

One local resident, who asked not to be identified, said neighbors along the block have known for some time that residents of the house were selling drugs, “but we felt we were helpless against them.”