East Palo Alto police officer shot in foot during traffic stop arrest

EAST PALO ALTO, Calif. - An East Palo Alto Police officer came home from the hospital Friday morning, after he was shot in the foot by a man he was trying to arrest.

Police said they tried to pull over a man in a Dodge Charger on Thursday at 11 p.m. for a "vehicle code violation." They would not specify what the violation was.

The driver got out of the car and tried to run away. Police caught up with him.

"During a struggle, the suspect shot off a handgun, one time, striking the officer," explained East Palo Alto Police Sgt. Stephen Kalb.

The officer was struck in the foot. No police officers fired their weapons.

Police arrested 44-year-old Willie Wiley, Jr. of East Palo Alto and say they recovered the weapon he used.

Police shared a photo of the weapon. It's what's called a "Ghost Gun" - that had been converted to be fully automatic with a high capacity magazine.

Ghost Guns are problematic in criminal cases because they do not have serial numbers: "There's no way to track it. It's basically a homemade gun," Kalb said.

Wiley does have a prior criminal history for drug and firearms possession. 

In 2017, Menlo Park police arrested him for firearms possession, but a federal judge dropped the case after he determined police did not follow the proper procedures when they searched Wiley's home.

In a statement released Friday, East Palo Alto's Interim Police Chief Jeff Liu said, "We are grateful that our officer was not more seriously injured, and that the suspect and firearm are in custody. This is a stark reminder of the danger police officers face, and the ongoing dangers of gun violence."