DEPUTY'S SHOOTING OF MAN CALLED ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE.

Byline: Daily News

LANCASTER - A Palmdale man killed by a sheriff's deputy had knocked the deputy to the ground and was kneeling over the deputy, pummeling him with his fists, when he was shot, an investigator said.

Releasing further information about Monday's shooting, sheriff's Lt. Joe Hartshorne said the deputy had shocked the man twice with an electronic stun device, but the man pulled out the device's wires and attacked the deputy.

``The deputy, fearing for his life, fired one 9 mm round from his weapon striking the suspect in the upper torso,'' a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department statement on the shooting said.

The man who was killed was identified by coroner's officials as Clint Updyke, 26.

The deputy's name has not been released. He was treated at a hospital for injuries he suffered in the fight and sent home, officials said.

Los Angeles County's Office of Independent Review and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office are conducting investigations of the shooting.

Sheriff's officials said the shooting occurred after a car crashed about 6:30 a.m. Monday into a drainage ditch on Lancaster Boulevard west of 30th Street West. When the deputy arrived in response to a 911 call, witnesses pointed out Updyke as the driver.

The Sheriff's Department statement said Updyke became combative when the deputy confronted him.