“This certainly was not an everyday occurrence,” Quesada said. “You’re dealing with somebody who isn’t right, needs help. It he doesn’t get it, or doesn’t spend time in jail, he’s probably going to end up hurting somebody bad.”
Officers were called out to the fast food restaurant at 1127 N. San Fernando Blvd. at 2:14 p.m. Monday after Sanders allegedly indicated he had a gun.
Witnesses told police they spotted Sanders standing in the restaurant and pretending to fire a weapon toward the sidewalk.
“People obviously were getting upset and scared,” Quesada said. “Some of the lunch crowd was inside. There were mothers along with their children.”
Witnesses pointed the arriving officer to the restroom area where he encountered Sanders, police said. In the struggle, Sanders allegedly attempted to take the officer’s gun before it fired one shot. A bystander eventually wrestled Sanders to the ground, but Sanders escaped, running outside just as another officer was arriving, Quesada said.
As Sanders approached the parking lot of Whiskey Bend, an officer tried to cut him off with her patrol car.
Sanders, who is 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, jumped onto the officer’s lap, trying to put the car in drive as she tried to keep it in park, police said.
“He started punching her in the face,” Quesada said. “He grabbed at her gun while she it held in place with her free right hand.”
Sanders, after being briefly subdued by two Taser gun shots, allegedly recovered and ran through another parking lot, where he hid in a nearby Dumpster.
Officers and detectives eventually located Sanders and had to physically pull him out of the trash.
“These officers did a great job,” Quesada said. “They could have shot the guy during more than one of the incidents. They would have been right to.”
A preliminary hearing has been scheduled Sept. 17 at Burbank Superior Court, Gibbons said.
