S.B. County deputies won't be charged in fatal shooting

Two San Bernardino County sheriff's deputies will not be charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a man who led them on a high-speed chase in a stolen car, then tried to escape a barricade, prosecutors said Thursday.

Deputies Jess Duran and Jason Hendrix were on patrol with the San Bernardino Police Department's Operation Phoenix crime-suppression plan Nov. 8 when they spotted a stolen 1994 Acura at a gas station.

After trailing the driver to a nearby Stater Bros. parking lot, they attempted to arrest him, according to a report by San Bernardino County Supervising Deputy District Attorney Vic Stull. But the man, later identified as 44-year-old Anthony Arteaga, hesitated to throw the keys outside as ordered. Instead he revved the car's engine to speed away, Stull's report said.

For a few minutes, the deputies followed the Acura as it ran traffic lights and stop signs and drove the wrong way on city streets. It entered Interstate 215 south and reached speeds of 140 mph before being forced into a spinout by pursuing officers, the report said.

When the Acura stopped, it was side by side with the sheriff's patrol car, and Arteaga was "shoulder to shoulder" with Hendrix, Stull wrote. With his hands hidden from the deputies' view, the suspect spun the tires and began to back up, Stull wrote.

When Duran saw Arteaga appear to "fumble for something," he fired four shots, Stull wrote.

Hendrix heard the pops, felt shards of glass breaking on his face and thought he was being shot at, the report states. Hendrix then fired his handgun three or four times.

Arteaga had been shot in the chest, neck and head.

An autopsy showed heroin and methamphetamine in his system, the report said.

The deputies had reasonable fear when Arteaga appeared to be reaching under the car seat while the car's wheels spun, Stull wrote