Police fire pepperball rounds on I-5 to subdue woman they say used fire extinguisher in police vehicle

A woman detained in the back of a police vehicle discharged a fire extinguisher Wednesday on Interstate 5 in San Diego while an officer was driving her to a psychiatric hospital, prompting police to fire pepperball rounds at her to subdue her, police said.

A lieutenant said no one was hurt.

An Oceanside police officer placed the woman, who is in her 40s, on a psychiatric hold after responding to a call about a woman who was acting erratically around 2 p.m., Oceanside police Lt. John McKean said. He did not know where the woman was detained.

The officer was driving the woman to the county’s psychiatric hospital in San Diego’s Midway District when the woman managed to “move around” in the back seat and used the fire extinguisher, McKean said.

The officer pulled over — about 4 p.m. on southbound I-5, south of state Route 52 — but the woman would not get out of the vehicle, according to police and the California Highway Patrol. The officer called for back up.

McKean said police fired the pepperball rounds, and the woman complied. She was taken to a hospital for an evaluation.

Two southbound I-5 lanes were closed during the incident until about 4:30 p.m.