The driver who was fatally shot after ramming El Cajon police officer was ‘soaked in gasoline’

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A pickup driver who was fatally shot after running down an El Cajon police sergeant on a sidewalk had been “soaked in gasoline” at the time of the unprovoked attack, authorities said Friday.

The new details came as El Cajon police released footage from the Dec. 11 incident, which happened about 12:45 p.m. outside the department’s headquarters. Much of the footage comes from a surveillance camera, and some comes from a camera worn by a nearby officer who ran to help the injured sergeant.

Near the end of the video, police included a written statement saying the driver, identified as 24-year-old Benjamin Grube, was “found to be soaked in gasoline” and that three gas cans were found in the truck. Authorities also said the investigation determined “Grube had suicidal ideations and was anti-law enforcement.”

According to Jonathan Dungan, an acting homicide lieutenant with San Diego police, evidence leading to that determination included “interviews and documents.” San Diego police are handling the investigation under a countywide protocol to prevent policing agencies from investigating themselves.

No one responded Friday to a phone message left at a phone believed to belong to Grube’s family.

The surveillance video shows the pickup drive up and stop about 90 seconds in the parking lot before the driver pulls into a spot near the front walkway, where several stairs lead uphill to the headquarters building. According to what police said in the video, the driver stayed in the spot for about 10 minutes, sometimes opening the driver’s door and one point walking around the cab and briefly getting into the passenger seat.

In the footage, an El Cajon police lieutenant, whose name has not been released, comes out of the building and heads to the front of the walkway — walking past the front of the parked truck. The driver begins to back out, then stops, halfway out of the parking spot.

Sgt. Kevin Maxwell soon joins the lieutenant on the walkway, standing several feet from the parking lot and discussing logistics for a retirement ceremony to be held later that day.

As they talk, the pickup pulls up and stops hard near a curb at the end of the walkway, pointed toward the two police officers. It catches their attention. They start to move away as they continue eyeing the truck.

The driver backs up the truck, pauses, then suddenly accelerates, the pickup jumping the curb and heading toward the two men. They start to run. The vehicle veers toward Maxwell. The front end clips his left side, and he flies off the hood a split second before the truck rams a tree.

Officer Evan Drescher soon runs up behind Maxwell. Footage from Drescher’s body-worn camera shows Maxwell on one knee, his gun trained on the truck. The driver’s door is open. The pickup starts to back away, tires screeching. Maxwell opens fire. The truck stops, pauses as Drescher orders the driver to stop, then it accelerates forward toward Maxwell, who is now on both feet. He scrambles out of the way as Drescher shoots at the driver’s side of the truck.

Grube was pulled from the truck but soon died at a hospital.

Maxwell, a 28-year department veteran, was injured but treated at a hospital and released the same day. Drescher, who has been with El Cajon police for six years, was not injured.