Plainclothes Officer Shot, Man Arrested

Inglewood Police Officer Rick Freeman knows well how muzzle flashes lit the evening sky in an Inglewood neighborhood and how a .45-caliber bullet sunk into his right leg “like a sledge hammer.”

The one thing Freeman says he can’t figure out is why.

Freeman and his partner, Michael Harkins, were met by gunfire Thursday when, they say, they tried to advise a man to drive more carefully.

Recovering at Daniel Freeman Memorial Hospital, Freeman recalled the incident in a telephone interview Friday, but would not discuss many details because the shooting is subject to an internal police investigation.

Freeman, 30, acknowledged that Daryl P. Mahnke, 20, of Los Angeles, may have been quick to draw a handgun because the officers were in an unmarked squad car and were not in uniform.

“People are pulling guns on citizens out there all the time,” Freeman said.

After seeing Mahnke drive into facing traffic on Florence Avenue late Thursday, the officers followed him until he parked near Redondo Boulevard and High Street, according to Sgt. Harvey Morat.

When they drove up, Mahnke allegedly began firing. One shot ricocheted into Freeman’s leg as he opened his door to return fire. No one else was injured.

Morat did not know if the officers identified themselves before the gunfire.

Mahnke, who was arrested by other officers, was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and held without bail.