Sacramento deputy placed on leave after shooting and killing teen boy during pursuit

A Sacramento sheriff’s deputy has been placed on leave as the department conducts an investigation into the shooting and killing of a teenage boy who drove toward officers in a pursuit over the weekend, authorities said.

The deputy is a 12-year veteran of the sheriff’s department assigned to the field service division, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. The deputy was placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

The sheriff’s department said deputies tried to stop the boy, identified as 17-year-old Sergey Makarenko, at 11 p.m. Saturday because he was driving erratically through neighborhoods in Carmichael, according to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department.

When the boy turned onto a street with a dead end, deputies got out of their cars and ordered him to exit his vehicle, sheriff’s officials said.

Instead, the teen boy put his car in reverse and accelerated, deputies said.

“A deputy fearing for the safety of the officers behind the suspect’s vehicle discharged his firearm at the suspect,” the sheriff’s department said.

The boy was struck by the gunfire and removed from his vehicle. He died at the scene, deputies said.

The Sheriff’s Homicide Bureau and Professional Standards Division was investigating the shooting.

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