By Jim Holt & Caleb Lunetta
Signal Staff Writers
An off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer was arrested on suspicion of brandishing a replica firearm during an alleged incident of road rage in Saugus late Saturday afternoon.
Georgeta Buruiana, 38, of Saugus, was arrested at 5:30 p.m. by deputies of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station who responded to reports of an assault with a deadly weapon.
Shortly after 5 p.m. on Saturday, deputies responded to the incident that reportedly occurred on Copper Hill Drive involving a motorist, law enforcement officials said at the time of the incident.
Deputies were able to stop the car by the time the suspect had reached the intersection of Copper Hill Drive and Seco Canyon Road.
“The arrest was related to an alleged road rage incident that occurred Saturday, Dec. 14, around 5:30 p.m. on Rye Canyon Road, Valencia,” Shirley Miller, spokeswoman for the SCV Sheriff’s Station, said Tuesday.
“The victim claimed the suspect — a female adult — displayed a firearm in a threatening manner,” Miller said.
Deputies arrested the suspect on a felony charge.
It was initially suspected that the car itself was the weapon in the call until details of the arrest were released Monday morning.
On the station’s arrest log, arresting deputies described the crime allegedly committed as: “brandish firearm replica at occupant of a vehicle.”
The section of the California Penal Code that deputies referenced in the arrest refers to “any firearm.”
Section 417.3 of the California Penal Code reads: “Every person who, except in self-defense, in the presence of any other person who is an occupant of a motor vehicle proceeding on a public street or highway, draws or exhibits any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, in a threatening manner against another person in such a way as to cause a reasonable person apprehension or fear of bodily harm is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 1170 for 16 months or two or three years or by imprisonment for 16 months or two or three years and a three thousand dollar ($3,000) fine.”
Buruiana, whose bail was set at $20,000, was released on bond from custody four hours after her arrest.
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On Twitter: @jamesarthurholt
