SUSPECT WOUNDED BY CHP OFFICER.

Byline: Daily News

LAKE VIEW TERRACE - A California Highway Patrol officer Monday shot and wounded a man who led officers on a high-speed chase over freeways and streets through the San Fernando Valley.

The incident began at 9 a.m. Monday when a CHP officer attempted to pull over the man who was speeding east on the 101 Freeway near the Balboa exit, CHP Officer Armando Clemente said.

The 39-year-old Panorama City man, whose name was not immediately disclosed, refused to pull over and next headed north on the 405 Freeway until he got off at Roscoe Boulevard, Clemente said. He sped east on Roscoe and ran several red lights, authorities said.

Officers in patrol cars abandoned the pursuit on streets because the speed was unsafe, but others continued to track the motorist by helicopter. They followed him into a gated community at Terra Bella and Aldephia avenues.

Then an officer in a patrol car followed the suspect into the gated community. The officer got out of his patrol car, and then the suspect suddenly made a U-turn and headed straight for the officer, Clemente said. He said the officer feared for his life when he shot and wounded the man, who was then taken in custody to a nearby hospital.

The man is expected to survive, said Clemente, adding that investigators still don't know why the driver fled.