Officer involved shooting in Winton

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- A traffic violation in a school zone ended with a pursuit and officer-involved shooting in the next town over.

The shooting happened on a railroad track on Santa Fe Street and Olive Avenue in the city of Winton. The suspect has been identified as 40-year-old Humberto Ragalado Lemus.

The incident first began in front of a school in Atwater where a man was driving erratically just after 8:00 a.m. when kids were arriving at school. "The officer observed the back vehicle traveling northbound at a high rate of speed and attempted to make a stop of the vehicle based on the traffic violation," explained Lt. Samuel Joseph, Atwater Police Department.

The driver refused to stop initially. He then pulled over, but not for long. "At one point they did have the suspect stopped, and after he stopped he was apparently taunting the officers and refused to comply with their demands and then the pursuit started again," said Vern Warnke, Merced County Sheriff.

The pursuit took off on several county roads and a canal bank before the Atwater officer made his final attempt to stop the car. "At the end of the pursuit-- the result of the pursuit one of the officers attempted to pit maneuver and as the officers were exiting the vehicle to subdue the suspect he then put the car in drive and came right at one of the officers with his car," said Joseph.

Investigators said shots were fired by the officer hitting the suspect multiple times. The suspect was sent to the hospital and is expected to survive.

The crime delayed amtrak and other trains traveling through the area since the shooting happened on the tracks. "We had to stop the train and we actually had to move the vehicles off the track, which is not good protocol when you're investigating a crime, but, I thought that the dangers involved with that train hitting these other vehicles was superseding that, so we can piece together the investigation from this point," explained Warnke.

An officer responding to the scene was injured by broken glass after he was attempting to get into the suspect's vehicle.

The officer who fired the shots at the suspect is on paid administrative leave.