The 20-year-old man whose chase through Battle Ground, Washington, on Saturday culminated in the fatal shooting of an off-duty Vancouver police officer by a Clark County sheriff’s deputy is being held in jail on $5 million bail, court officials decided on Monday.
Julio Cesar Segura may face charges of first-degree attempted murder, attempt to elude, possession of a stolen vehicle, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. Segura made a first appearance in Clark County Superior Court on Monday.
The most serious of those charges stem from what occurred after the chase, when Segura reportedly tried to enter the home of Vancouver officer Donald Sahota, 52. He fought with Sahota in the officer’s driveway, according to investigators, then stabbed him and ran into Sahota’s home where his wife remained.
A local government official confirmed Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, that a Clark County Sheriff's Office deputy shot and killed off duty Vancouver police officer Donald Sahota, 52, late Saturday night during pursuit of a robbery suspect.
Courtesy / Vancouver Police Department
A Clark County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to the scene and mistook the officer, who was carrying his service weapon, for the suspect, prosecutors said in court Monday.
The deputy, who has not been named, fired several shots from a rifle, striking Sahota, investigators said. Sahota died at the scene and Segura was taken into custody.
The chase began when Segura allegedly robbed a Chevron gas station near Vancouver and took off in a stolen car. Investigators said responding police used spike strips near Battle Ground to disable the car.
In court, Clark County Prosecutor Tony Golik shed new details on the grisly struggle after Segura reportedly fled on foot. Investigators have said Segura knocked on the door and claimed he had been involved in a car accident before struggling with Sahota.
According to Golik, Sahota had held Segura by gunpoint outside the home. It was then Segura produced a knife, Golik said, and stabbed Sahota three times in the torso. Segura later told investigators that he had at some point become aware Sahota was an off-duty officer and “actually admitted he thought he had killed Officer Sahota,” Golik said.
“Then, while still armed with the deadly weapon, forced his way into Officer Sahota’s home and caused injury to Officer Sahota’s wife while he was doing that,” Golik told Clark County Superior Court Judge John Fairgrieve.
A Clark County deputy responding to the scene, then “observed Officer Sahota obviously chasing the defendant back into his own home.”
“And it appears the deputy mistook Officer Sahota for the suspect and fired his rifle also, causing additional injury to Officer Sahota,” Golik said.
Golik described Segura’s actions as an “exceptional, extreme risk to the community,” saying he knowingly stabbed an off-duty officer multiple times.
Fairgrieve agreed with Golik’s bail request.
“It’s hard to think of more a more dangerous series of acts by the defendant that are reflected in (court documents),” he said. “Going to a residential structure, fighting with the occupant, stabbing the occupant multiple times ... obviously this has been a very serious result here.
“I find that no lesser set of bail or conditions would protect the public from the defendant,” Fairgrieve said.
The judge set Segura’s next hearing for Feb. 11.
Segura family shocked
Court records suggest the allegations Segura faces could be a significant escalation for the 20-year-old. He has no violent criminal history in Oregon or Washington, according to publicly available court documents.
The accusations shocked his mother, Eva Segura Mendoza, and two sisters, all of whom share a home with Segura in Yakima, Washington. Reached by phone Monday, they said they had yet to be contacted by any law enforcement.
The family said Segura left the house Friday afternoon, driving a white Mitsubishi his mother bought him for his job at a local McDonald’s. He told one of his sisters he was “going out.”
Another sister, Monica Ramos, said she assumed he was going to a skatepark, the mall or to see some friends. They weren’t sure why he would be in Clark County. She described him as social and friendly, if sometimes aloof.
“My mom’s really worried,” Ramos said, translating for Segura Mendoza. “She’s just sad about it because her kid’s in custody.”
Segura and his siblings lived parts of their childhood in foster care, Ramos said. They spent some time homeless and also lived with their stepfather in Lyle, Washington for some years. In 2016, at age 15, Segura was cited for operating a vehicle without driving privileges in Hood River. He listed his stepfather’s address.
Ramos and her mother described Segura as living somewhat separately in his late teens. The two sisters reunited with their mother about six years ago, she said, and Segura joined them three years later. An eldest brother lives elsewhere independently, she said.
“I wouldn’t say he was close to any of us,” Ramos said. She said Segura expressed vastly different opinions than his mother and sisters and cited as an example how Segura would call the COVID-19 vaccines fake.
But the family couldn’t point to any signs that would suggest a violent streak. The family said Segura had no diagnosed mental illnesses, and they weren’t aware of any hard drug use.
The sister and mother said they weren’t sure what their next steps would be.
“Me and my mom are probably going to think about it,” Ramos said. “I feel like if I try to not talk about it with her, it’s going to make her even more stressed.”