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SAN JOSE — A police officer shot and wounded a driver Tuesday night following a chase that started with an illegal sideshow near San Jose City Hall and ended near Japantown after the suspect allegedly hit a pedestrian and a motorcycle officer, authorities said.
Around 9:30 p.m., an hour past the city’s temporary curfew and as police were breaking up the fifth night of demonstrations downtown protesting the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a pair of motorcycle officers tried to stop a silver sedan seen performing doughnuts across from City Hall, according to San Jose police.
As the sedan took off north, police said it hit a woman who was riding or walking with what appeared to be an electric scooter near the intersection. A chase ensued for about a mile and a half toward East Mission and North Eighth streets, next to Raymond J. Bernal Memorial Park.
During the pursuit, the sedan hit and severely damaged one of the police motorcycles, knocking an officer to the ground. Police said the sedan got into an area where East Mission Street dead ends, and backed up toward the second motorcycle officer, who by this point was now off his bike and ordering her to stop.
That officer fired at least one shot, and a bullet grazed the driver’s shoulder, police said. The adult female suspect, identified Wednesday as Yuridia Ochoa, 23, was arrested and taken to the hospital for treatment of her injuries. She was expected to be booked into the Santa Clara County jail upon her release from the hospital.
The pedestrian who was hit suffered a head injury, a broken ankle, and abrasions, but is expected to survive, police said. The motorcycle officer who was hit was not seriously injured.
The Tuesday night shooting is the fourth of the year involving a San Jose police officer. On May 3, officers shot and killed 26-year-old Armando Salvatierra at North Autumn and Julian streets when police say he was stabbing another man to death and advanced toward officers with a knife in his hand.
On May 1, an officer fired at but missed an allegedly armed suspect in the area of King Road and Duffy Way. And on Jan. 4, officers shot and wounded Jose Antonio Delossantos at an Arco gas station on Quimby Road after he allegedly tried to ignite a pump nozzle and charged at them with a metal rod.
Check back later for updates to this story.
