A Victorville man is facing federal charges after allegedly assaulting a San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy, robbing her of her service weapon, and firing at her during the attack. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California, on the morning of September 4, 2019, Ari Aki Young, 26, engaged in a violent confrontation with the deputy who had responded to a domestic disturbance call made by his mother.
Details from the federal criminal complaint reveal that Young, upon his forced encounter with the attending officer, initially resisted a pat-down and then escalated physically – by first knocking away the deputy's baton and proceeding to strike her repeatedly with his fists, according to a video taken by a neighbor, the victim warned she would shoot and Young, unfazed kept grappling for her gun, two shots were fired before he managed to disarm her, then stood over and fired at the deputy as she fled. United States Attorney Martin Estrada condemned the attack in a statement obtained by the press, "Defendant's violent assault on a peace officer is completely unacceptable," adding, "Our law enforcement officers put their lives on the line for us every day and deserve to be protected from violent attacks such as this one," as stated by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California.
Young is now charged with one count of interference with commerce by robbery (Hobbs Act), one count of using and discharging a firearm with a crime of violence, and one count of possession of a stolen firearm and stolen ammunition. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a statutory maximum of 20 years in federal prison on the Hobbs Act charge, plus up to 10 additional years for each other offense, as per the U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California.
