- A California sheriff's deputy was arrested after reporting he was ambushed, a news release said.
- Sukhdeep Gill, 27, is accused of falsely telling officers he was a victim of a drive-by shooting.
- Gill was
charged with falsely reporting a crime and felony vandalism, thenews release said.
A California sheriff's deputy was arrested and charged with reporting a false story about being violently ambushed while on the job.
A district attorney's news release said Sukhdeep Gill, a 27-year-old deputy with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, was arrested after an investigation revealed holes in his account from nearly a year ago. Gill was charged with falsely reporting a crime and felony vandalism after reporting that he was shot in a drive-by shooting.
Gill reported the incident on his radio on a Friday night in January 2020 just after 10:30 p.m., according to the news release. He said "Shots fired!" prompting officers from the sheriff's office and other local police departments to respond to the scene, the release said.
Gill told an officer that he had stopped and parked his car to urinate but that as he walked back to his patrol vehicle a person shot at him from the passenger's seat of a silver Sedan that had its lights turned off, the release said. Gill said he fired twice at the car before it drove off.
Officers at the scene, however, did not see any serious injuries on Gill, and the news release said it "appeared he had been shot only once, and in a miraculous spot - his body-worn camera, which was destroyed."
Gill's account sparked a "manhunt" for the gunman. The news release said, however, that evidence "exposed serious discrepancies" in his story.
"This case is bewildering and deeply disappointing," District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in the news release. "Deputy Gill's actions abused the trust of his fellow officers and diverted public-safety resources away from protecting the community to investigate a made-up crime."
"I can tell you we look forward to getting a look at the investigation and the related evidence to understand why these charges are being pursued," Gill's lawyer, Nicole Pifari, said, according to NBC News.
NBC News said Gill was placed on administrative leave during the investigation into the incident.
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