SAN DIEGO — Authorities have announced that a man is in custody for felony assault after he sprayed deputies with bear spray and stabbed a Sheriff’s K9 early last week.
Just after 10 AM on Tuesday, October 15, deputies from the Rancho San Diego station arrived on the 15000 block of Skyline Truck Trail in Jamul, an unincorporated area in San Diego, to investigate reports of a man walking around a vehicle and talking to himself.
There they made contact with 29-year-old Richard Lechuga of San Diego, who by that time was sitting in a vehicle and, when deputies approached, suddenly sprayed three of them with bear spray through an open window.
When Lechuga brandished a knife and what appeared to be a handgun, a Sheriff’s K9 was sent in, only for Lechuga to attack the dog, stabbing it in the head and face.
Deputies then utilized “a combination of less lethal munitions and devices” such as less-lethal shotgun rounds, pepper balls, and a Taser to subdue Lechuga and take him into custody. He was taken to hospital to be treated for injuries sustained during the arrest.
The K9 was taken to a local vet to be treated for non-life threatening injuries.
Lechuga faces charges of felony assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, assaulting a police animal, and resisting arrest. The handgun he’d been armed with turned out to be a pellet gun.
