Officer-involved shooting shuts down Bay Bridge for hours

SAN FRANCISCO - The lower deck of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge was shut down for hours after officers shot and wounded a motorist who drove at them while they were investigating a crash.

The California Highway Patrol said its officers were investigating a collision around 3:30 a.m. Sunday when a red Cadillac drove toward them on the right shoulder.

CHP Officer Vu Williams said the male driver ignored several commands to stop and the officers opened fire. The man was struck at least once and was taken to the hospital. His condition has not been released.

Two passengers in the car were unharmed and were interviewed by investigators, Williams said.

All eastbound lanes out of the city toward Oakland were closed for at least five hours. Motorists who were stuck on the bridge described a long night in which some mingled in lanes, took selfies, slept in their cars and climbed atop car roofs to watch the sunrise.

"The mood was actually kind of playful for the first hour and a half or so," Rami Dahud, a 34-year-old Millbrae resident and Uber driver, told the San Francisco Chronicle (http://bit.ly/2sGUlWB). "But as day broke, people started to get really frustrated."

Some drivers tweeted at the CHP, urging them to get traffic flowing again so they could hurry to a bathroom.

Eventually, officers rerouted motorists through Treasure Island.

"It was unpleasant, but there was a unique novelty to it. Walking around on the bridge at night. Sitting on the Bay Bridge outside your car, watching the sun come up," Dahud said.