Man Who Pointed Cell Phone at a Sheriff's Deputy Missed Being Shot

A man identified as Raymond Douville was Tasered and taken to a La Mesa hospital Friday night after pointing a cell phone at a sheriff’s deputy and nearly being shot in Lemon Grove, authorities said.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. Greg Hampton, Douville was taken to Sharp Grossmont Hospital for complaints of chest pain and would be held under guard until medically cleared for booking into jail.

All three rounds fired by the deputy were recovered, Hampton said, and there were no injuries from the shooting about 10:15 p.m. on Palm Street east of Skyline Drive.

The incident began when a deputy from the Lemon Grove substation tried to contact someone related to a radio call about a subject who had taken a large amount of unknown pills.

“The deputy observed a subject matching the description provided by the Sheriff's Communication Center, a short distance from the residence where the call originated,” Hampton said in a press release.

The subject, later identified as Douville, tried to hide behind a parked car, and the unnamed deputy told the subject to “show me your hands,” Hampton said. Douville held a black object in his hand and told the deputy it was a gun, he said.

“The deputy drew his issued weapon and ordered Douville to drop the gun; instead, Douville stood up from behind the parked car and took a shooting stance,” Hampton said.

Fearing Douville was armed and pointing a gun at him, the deputy fired three rounds from his weapon. None of the rounds struck Douville or anyone else in the area.

“Douville held his hand out again and said he had a cell phone,” Hampton said. “The deputy saw the lighted key pad on the phone and holstered his service weapon.”

Douville then started walking toward the deputy, who ordered him to stop and get on the ground, Hampton said. Douville failed to comply and kept walking toward the deputy.

“Fearing for his safety, the deputy removed his Taser and deployed the weapon at Douville. At that point, Douville was taken into custody without further incident.

No other information was available Saturday morning, including Douville’s age and the charges he would face. The Lemon Grove station would conduct an investigation, Patch was told.