BRIEFLY : L.A. MAN ARRESTED IN FATAL GLENDALE CRASH.

Glendale police Thursday arrested a Los Angeles man on murder charges, saying he had caused a fatal car crash Wednesday night while attempting to flee police.

Police said Michael David Caudill, 36, crashed his Dodge Ram van into a pickup truck at the intersection of Verdugo Avenue and Colorado Boulevard at 7 p.m., killing the other driver, Ernest Ralph Hauser, a 68-year-old Burbank resident.

A passenger in the pickup, 62-year-old Peter Michael McGrath of Glendale, was seriously injured.

Police attempted to stop Caudill while investigating a domestic abuse case at a home in the 100 block of South Jackson Avenue, where they found an injured woman Caudill was suspected of assaulting, said Sgt. Rick Young of the Glendale Police Department.

Police later saw the suspect's van on Verdugo Road, but when officers attempted to pull it over Caudill allegedly accelerated to 80 miles per hour and crashed into Hauser's pickup.

Caudill was injured in the crash and on Thursday was still in critical condition and scheduled for surgery at Los Angeles County Medical Center.

McGrath was reported to be in serious condition at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena.

?13-Daily News

Man gets 8 years in deputy's beating

PASADENA - A man who beat an off-duty sheriff's deputy was sentenced to eight years in prison.

Jonathan D. Covington, 28, of Altadena was sentenced Thursday to the maximum eight years by Municipal Court Judge Judson Morris, who called the attack ``one of the most brutal beatings'' he'd seen in 32 years.

Covington was convicted in November on three felony counts of mayhem and battery for beating off-duty Deputy Jeffrey Fenn of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

Fenn became a deputy after gaining notoriety as the bottled water deliveryman who rescued ``Raging Bull'' actress Theresa Saldana from a near-fatal stabbing attack by a deranged fan on March 15, 1982.

Fenn saw Covington's stepdaughter hit Fenn's son in March so he took the girl by the arm to the principal's office, the prosecutor said.

When Fenn returned to find his son, he was attacked by Covington, Deputy District Attorney Michael Grosbard said.

Fenn was reportedly hit in the head and kneed in the mouth several times.

?13-Associated Press

Singer Etheridge sues former tour manager

LOS ANGELES - Melissa Etheridge wants at least $500,000 in damages and a court order to prevent her fired tour manager from releasing what the singer calls ``private'' information about her.

Etheridge's Superior Court lawsuit filed Wednesday claimed anticipatory breach of contract by Ulrich Peretz, who was allegedly about to break a confidentiality agreement signed when he started working for her in 1989.

He was fired last year.

Peretz stated his plan to ``intentionally violate the confidentiality provisions of the agreement by selling and publicizing personal, private and confidential information pertaining to the plaintiff,'' the suit said.

The nature of the private information wasn't disclosed in the suit filed by attorney John Lavely Jr., nor were the whereabouts of Peretz.

Etheridge is expecting a baby with lover Julie Cypher, ex-wife of Lou Diamond Phillips.

The Grammy-winning singer of ``Come to My Window'' disclosed seven weeks ago that Cypher was carrying the child.

?13-Associated Press

Officers wounded in gunfight with driver

BUTTONWILLOW - Three California Highway Patrol officers sustained minor wounds Thursday in a gunbattle with a motorist who the officers shot to death, authorities reported.

One officer was shot in the chest but escaped serious injury because he was wearing a protective vest, Kern County sheriff's Cmdr. Donny Youngblood reported.

A second officer was wounded in the foot, and a bullet grazed a female officer, Youngblood added. All were taken to hospitals in nearby Bakersfield for treatment.

Detectives did not release names of the officers, the dead suspect nor his female companion, who was arrested.

The female CHP officer made a traffic stop along Interstate 5 at Stockdale Highway in the Buttonwillow area 120 miles north of Los Angeles and saw contraband in the car which Youngblood presumed was drugs.

A man and woman in the car struggled with the officer, overpowered her and got her gun, but she managed to escape.

The officer radioed for backup help, armed herself with another gun from her patrol car, then chased after them.

After a backup car joined the chase, the suspect crashed his car and came out shooting, Youngblood said. The man was killed by return gunfire.