Police release video showing officer dodging gunfire, fatally shooting man
Authorities have released a new video showing a Fremont motorcycle officer diving down a grassy highway shoulder embankment to dodge gunfire from a man who tried to flee police in a suspected stolen car before the officer fatally shot the man.
The video clip’s graphic images shed some new details about the fatal March 24 shooting that locked up traffic on much of eastbound Highway 84 near the Dumbarton Bridge.
The video was produced by Fremont police in coordination with the California Highway Patrol, which is the lead investigative agency because the shooting happened on a highway.
Police say that about 2:48 p.m., Joshua Gloria, 34, of Oakland was driving a stolen Toyota Highlander near Ardenwood Boulevard and Highway 84 in Fremont when it was scanned by a police license plate reader in the area.
The car had been connected to “an armed robbery with the use of a firearm in San Francisco,” police said. Fremont police Officer Brian Burchurch, who was nearby when the license plate was scanned, told police dispatch he located the car as it entered Newark, then followed it through a shopping center parking lot while waiting for other officers to arrive.
Police said Gloria attempted to flee from the shopping center in the car and Burch pursued on his motorcycle, turning on his lights and sirens, according to the video clip.
As Gloria drove north on Newark Boulevard and turned onto the Highway 84 eastbound ramp, police said he struck several vehicles and the car “became disabled,” eventually stopping on the shoulder of the highway.
Police said Gloria immediately got out of the car with a firearm “while running towards and shooting at Officer Burch, who was still on his motorcycle.”
In the video clip, multiple gunshots are heard and Burch is heard yelling, “Oh, sh**!” as he jumps off his motorcycle and dives down the embankment before radioing in that shots were fired.
Burch then turns around and fires his gun at Gloria, who appeared to be strad