SAN DIEGO — The 25-year-old man who is accused of shooting CHP officer Tony Pacheco in the leg on Interstate 8 last week is appeared in court on Tuesday morning.
Yuhao Du of San Diego appeared before a judge Tuesday morning, but did not enter a plea. His defense attorney Howard Cohn asked the judge to continue the arraignment until next week.
The judge granted that request and the arraignment was continued until May 10.
Du's defense attorneys, Anna Demidchik and Howard Cohn of the Demidchik Law Firm, confirm he is a Physics PhD student at UC San Diego. They say his family still lives in China and reached out to them for representation because they have represented other Chinese clients in the past.
Du was arrested and faces several charges, including attempted murder of a peace officer, assault with a firearm causing great bodily injury and attempting to take a law officer's gun.
"Let's hold off judgement, even though there's a lot of social media out there, everything, all the videos, seem to be what happened after the alleged incident," said Demidchik.
During Tuesday's hearing, defense attorneys asked Du be provided his prescription drugs while in jail. Outside court, they did not elaborate on what kind of medication he is taking.
According to CHP spokesman Jake Sanchez, “As Pacheco was speaking with him, Du allegedly attacked him without warning, "lunging for his service gun" and "trying to take control of it," During the struggle, one round discharged and struck the officer in the leg. As the struggle continued, several good Samaritans driving by stopped to assist the injured officer by providing medical aid and restraining Du until additional law enforcement arrived.
The gunshot injuries suffered by Pacheco, who has two young children and whose wife, Janette, is pregnant, will require "a lengthy rehabilitation and potential surgeries," according to a GoFundMe page seeking donations to help the family with expenses during his recuperation.
Officer Pacheco is an seven-year veteran of the force and was investigating a traffic collision at the time.
“I am extremely grateful for the members of the public who put themselves in harms way to help our officer after he was shot in the leg,” said CHP Chief Scott Parker. “This incident could have ended in a greater tragedy had those individuals not intervened. CHP officers put themselves at risk every day they come to work. Our thoughts and prayers are with the officer and his family as he recovers from his injuries.”
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