CARLSBAD — Authorities on Dec. 8 released video footage of a non-injury police shootout that erupted two months ago during a traffic stop in a residential neighborhood near Carlsbad State Beach.
The events that led to the volley of gunfire began shortly before 11 p.m. on Oct. 20, when Officer Vincent Abbate of the Carlsbad Police Department pulled over a white Ford van at Madison Street and Oak Avenue after seeing the driver run a red light and a stop sign, according to CPD officials.
With a dashcam in the patrol car and Abbate’s uniform-worn camera capturing images and audio of the encounter, Abbate walked up to the van and knocked on the front passenger’s door.
A moment later, the motorist, later identified as 25-year-old Patrick Harold Doherty of Oceanside, pulled a pistol and fired a shot at the officer, according to police. The round exited the vehicle through the rear side of the frame of the passenger door, roughly five feet above the ground, narrowly missing Abbate, investigators determined.
The patrolman reacted by running back toward his cruiser and firing about 15 rounds at the back of the van, breaking out its rear windows. Doherty then briefly fled, driving a short distance before pulling to a stop in a southbound traffic lane.
After Abbate called for backup officers, Doherty became compliant, following commands to exit the van with his hands above his head.
As Abbate took him into custody, the suspect told him he had left his unserialized ghost gun on the driver’s floor of the van, where investigators later recovered it.
Walking the suspect to his cruiser, Abbate tried to glean what led to the shooting.
“What happened?” the officer asked Doherty. “What the heck?”
“Scare tactic – that’s the only reason why I did anything,” the suspect replied, mentioning that he had a recent DUI arrest on his record. “I was just scared.”
Doherty was booked on suspicion of attempted murder, assault with a firearm, resisting arrest, illegally carrying a loaded gun in public and driving while intoxicated. He remains jailed pending trial.
