Who is shooting?” one Sonoma County sheriff’s deputy yelled. “Guilia’s hit! Get a car up here now. Get a f***ing car up here,” another deputy shouted as gunshots rang out.
Deputies’ body worn camera video shows chaos on March 4 as deputies chased a suspect killed in the melee. The violent video was released by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office on Friday.
Deputies opened fire on Jose Luis Villasenor Cervantes, 53, of Santa Rosa, at multiple intersections during a high-speed chase. A barrage of gunshots can be heard in the video. Cervantes shot at pursuing deputies using an assault rifle, the Sheriff’s Office said.
The deputy who was confused about who was firing was apparently concerned about a rookie deputy, Giulia Geary. She had been injured by shrapnel from bullets fired by Cervantes, according to investigators.
On Stony Point Road, Cervantes used his vehicle to ram head-on into Deputy Nicholas Dellia’s patrol car while the deputy was attempting to deploy spike strips. Dellia opened fire on Cervantes. At the same moment, a rookie deputy, James Blount, accidentally crashed his patrol car into Deputy Dellia and ran the deputy over.
Deputy Dellia was pinned under Deputy Blount’s patrol car and suffer major head injuries. The video reveals that Deputy Blount did not immediately realize that he had just ran another deputy over. “Who is this? F**k,” the deputy exclaimed.
Police said Cervantes fired an AK-47 style rifle at SCSO deputies more than 50 times during the incident.
The Santa Rosa Police Department wrote, “Cervantes intentionally drove his vehicle, head-on, into Deputy Dellia’s patrol vehicle while Deputy Dellia was in a nearby drainage ditch. Dellia fired several rounds from his handgun at Cervantes. As the shooting was occurring, Deputy Blount arrived at the termination of the vehicle pursuit, but his vehicle struck Deputy Dellia.”
Emergency crews rescued the gravely-injured deputy from beneath the patrol car and he was rushed to a hospital for life-saving medical treatment.
Cervantes’ body was pulled out of his wrecked car. He suffered injuries from multiple gunshot wounds, as well as from the crash. He was pronounced deceased at the scene.
The incident initially began when multiple 911 callers told dispatchers that Cervantes was kicked out of a nightclub for making threats with a gun. Cervantes fled from La Hacienda del Toro nightclub at 3660 Stony Point Road, police said.
A deputy spotted Cervantes driving on Todd Road and followed him. The Sheriff’s Office said Cervantes made a U-turn, pulled into a parking lot, and began firing his assault rifle at Deputy Joseph Nouguier. The deputy fired back with a handgun.
The gun battle eventually turned into a violent pursuit involving at least seven deputies.
“Cervantes’ lethal injuries were a laceration of the right atrium of the heart and a laceration of the inferior vena cava, both caused by blunt-force trauma to the chest likely caused by the impact of the collision,” the Santa Rosa Police Department wrote.