Authorities Wednesday publicly identified a driver fatally shot by police last week after the driver allegedly struck an officer intentionally with their vehicle outside El Cajon Police Department headquarters.
Benjamin Grube, 24, was mortally wounded when Officer Evan Drescher and Sgt. Kevin Maxwell opened fire on them as they allegedly were making a second attempt to ram police with the vehicle, according to the San Diego Police Department, which investigates shootings on the part of ECPD personnel under a countywide agreement intended to prevent conflicts of interest.
The chaotic and deadly incident in downtown El Cajon left Maxwell with non-life-threatening injuries after being struck by the 2000 Toyota Tundra driven by Grube around 12:30 p.m. last Wednesday, police said.
Get top local stories in San Diego delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC San Diego's News Headlines newsletter.
Grube allegedly accelerated their vehicle onto a sidewalk, striking the patrol sergeant as he and an ECPD lieutenant prepared for a retirement ceremony outside the police station in the 100 block of Civic Center Way.
"The sergeant was struck and thrown into the air as he tried to run out of the way," SDPD acting Lt. Jonathan Dungan said.
The truck then crashed into a tree, and the lieutenant called for backup.
Local
"As additional officers responded, and while the sergeant was attempting to get back up, (Grube) reversed the truck and then drove forward toward officers a second time," Dungan said.
At that point, Drescher and Maxwell opened fire on Grube. Paramedics took Grube to a trauma center, where they were pronounced dead.
Maxwell, a 28-year veteran of the El Cajon Police Department, was taken to a hospital but was released from medical care by the following afternoon.
Drescher has been with the ECPD for about six years. He works as a motorcycle officer assigned to the agency's traffic unit.
The motive behind Grube's alleged use of a vehicle as a weapon against law enforcement personnel remains unclear, according to police.
