S.F. police officer shoots driver in fender bender

An off-duty San Francisco police sergeant shot and grazed a motorist in the city's Bayview neighborhood after the two got into a dispute over a minor fender bender on the freeway, police said Sunday.

The incident began when the two were involved in a minor, noninjury crash on Interstate 280 about 12:10 a.m. that was witnessed by an off-duty San Francisco firefighter, said Police Chief Greg Suhr.

The sergeant and the other motorist pulled over at a gas station at Jerrold Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard. The off-duty firefighter also pulled into the station, thinking he would be a witness to the freeway incident, the chief said.

The firefighter told officers that he heard the sergeant identify herself as a police officer and that the motorist responded that he did not care and punched her, Suhr said, adding the altercation was captured by a surveillance camera at the gas station.

The sergeant fired at the motorist in self-defense, police said. The round hit the ground, and particles or debris from the shot hit the man in the ankle. He refused medical treatment and was booked in connection with his alleged attack on the sergeant, police said.

The firefighter who witnessed the incident "had no idea, when he was being so conscientious, that a San Francisco police officer was one of the two parties involved until she IDd herself," Suhr said. "I would hope that every citizen was as conscientious a witness."

The names of the suspect and the sergeant weren't immediately released.

The shooting is under investigation by police. The officer is on routine paid administrative leave.