BOCCE BALL FUN

A Danville police officer shot a man Thursday after authorities said he pulled out a folding knife and “advanced toward the officer,” according to authorities.

The man was taken to a hospital for treatment of his injuries. Contra Costa Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jimmy Lee said via email Friday that the man was still there, but did not give his condition.

Authorities have not identified the officer involved or released any bodycamera footage.

According to a statement from Lee on Thursday, the incident started a bit before noon, when police said they received “several calls from motorists” reporting that a man was throwing rocks off the Sycamore Valley Road overpass onto Interstate 680.

An officer arrived and contacted the man in the area of Sycamore Valley Road and Camino Ramon, where the man was standing in the street, police said.

“He was walking across (Sycamore Valley Road) from south to north and had a backpack,” said David Krumboltz, an automotive columnist for this news agency who said he witnessed the officer arrive. “(The man) wasn’t in a hurry, but he wasn’t dawdling, either. He got across the street, and just as he got there, a police car came.”

According to Lee, “As the officer tried to talk to him, the subject pulled out a folding knife and then opened it.”

The officer ordered the man to drop the knife “several times,” Lee said. The man “then advanced toward the officer, who discharged his weapon, striking the subject once.”

Emergency responders were called and took the man to a hospital. Krumboltz, who saw the beginning and the aftermath of the incident on his way to and from picking up a takeout order, said he saw clearly that the man was bleeding profusely from his back but that he also did not see the front of him.

In a still image shared by police, the man appeared to be holding a knife in one hand and a paper grocery bag in the other. A partially torn bag with groceries inside was seen in the area of the shooting Thursday afternoon.

Sycamore Valley Road was closed between Brookside Drive and San Ramon Valley Boulevard several hours for an investigation.

The Danville Police Department is staffed through a contract with the Sheriff’s Office.

DOUG DURAN — STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Bruce Mowat, 77, tosses a bocce ball as Regina Godfrey, 82, watches at the Viamonte Senior Living community in Walnut Creek on Friday. Viamonte has had most of its residents vaccinated, allowing them to do activities that they have not been able to do during the past year.