Moments after a 25-year-old driver was arrested for allegedly firing at and narrowly missing a Carlsbad officer during a traffic stop in October, police asked the man what had happened.
“A scare tactic, that’s the only reason I did anything,” 25-year-old Patrick Doherty can be heard saying in video footage released Friday. “I was scared.”
The shooting happened after Officer Vincent Abbate witnessed a driver in a white Ford van commit multiple traffic violations and conducted a stop, police officials said. In video released Friday, the vehicle can be seen running a red light and a stop sign before pulling to the side of the road near Madison Street and Oak Avenue.
When Abbate approached the side of the van, the driver, later identified as Doherty, pulled out a handgun and fired one round at the officer without warning, police said. Abbate immediately sought cover and returned fire with his service weapon. The officer’s rounds can be seen shattering the back windows of the vehicle in dash camera video.
No one was injured in the shooting. At the time, Abbate had been with the Carlsbad Police Department for about 14 months and was working as a patrol officer.
Doherty drove south a very short distance before stopping, and Abbate called for additional officers who ordered Doherty out of the car, police said. As he backed up toward officers, Doherty be heard saying on body-worn camera footage, “It was just a scare tactic.” He was arrested without incident.
Investigators later found a 9mm “ghost gun” — an untraceable, homemade firearm assembled from parts — on the driver’s side floorboard of the van that was used in the shooting.
Doherty was booked into Vista jail on suspicion of attempted murder of a police officer, felony resisting arrest, assault with a firearm on a police officer, and an outstanding arrest warrant for driving under the influence. He is being held without bail.
His next court hearing is scheduled for Dec. 13.
