From Sandy Louey and Andy Furillo:
A parolee who had been out of prison barely two weeks crashed his car into two other vehicles along the Capital City Freeway, then slugged a California Highway Patrol officer into unconsciousness before he was subdued with Taser guns Sunday, authorities said.
Andreas Tillman, 39, had been to prison three times since 2002 before his most recent release, all on convictions for driving under the influence, according to Sacramento County court records.
CHP officials said they received several calls around 12:55 p.m. Sunday of a reckless driver behind the wheel of a Mazda Tribute, swerving across all the lanes of the eastbound freeway south of Watt Avenue before rendering his car inoperable after colliding with the two other vehicles.
When they arrived, officers found Tillman and his father, Junius Andrus Tillman, 59, walking down the freeway with a pit bull, arguing with each other, CHP spokeswoman Lizz Dutton said.
The officers took the elder Tillman into custody. The younger man then ordered his dog to attack the officers. They responded by shooting him with a Taser, according to the CHP.
Unfazed by the jolt, Andreas Tillman pulled the prongs out of his body and then went after one of the officers and knocked him out, the CHP said. Several more officers who then arrived shot Tillman again with their Tasers and subdued him.
He was treated at Sutter Roseville hospital for a cut to the head and later was booked into the Sacramento County Jail on felony assault on an officer and other charges, Dutton said release.
The officer who Tillman struck was treated at a local hospital and released. Another CHP officer also was injured when he accidentally struck himself in the hand with the Taser device, the CHP said.
Tillman's mother, Terry Tillman Brown, said in an interview that her son is an Army veteran who served during Operation Desert Storm, the first Iraqi war. She said her son has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and that he also suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Brown said her son had not slept in the two weeks since he was released from the Deuel Vocational Institute in Tracy, where he had been most recently incarcerated on a parole violation. She said he was driving from his grandmother's house in Oak Park to his own residence off Auburn Boulevard when he began his erratic driving spree.
She said he has talked about suicide and that the family had been trying to get him committed into a Veteran's Administration hospital.
"He was not in his right mind," Brown said.
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