Man in custody after allegedly striking Petaluma firefighter with vehicle

A 30-year-old San Pablo man was arrested early Sunday for allegedly striking an on-duty Petaluma firefighter with his vehicle, police said.

Police were notified shortly after 3 a.m. that the firefighter had been struck while tending to a patient in the parking lot of a shopping center in the 200 block of North McDowell Boulevard.

The firefighter told officers that a man who approached and began to ask questions was asked to leave and that the suspect then got in his vehicle and intentionally drove at and struck the firefighter before driving off.

The firefighter gave a description of the suspect, who was determined to be 30-year-old San Pablo resident Everal Thompson.

Thompson was contacted and identified and a search of his vehicle turned up a loaded handgun in the passenger area, police said, noting that the suspect is a convicted felon prohibited from owning firearms.

Thompson was taken to the Sonoma County Jail and booked for assault with a deadly weapon on a firefighter and being a felon in possession of a loaded firearm.