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A Hesperia man who was traveling on foot survived being struck by two vehicles in separate collisions Thursday morning but was then fatally shot by San Bernardino County sheriff’s deputies after he pulled a knife on them, authorities said.
Nicholas Robert Contreras, 32, was first struck by a vehicle at the intersection of Mariposa Road and Locust Avenue in Victorville, according to a sheriff’s spokesperson.
Contreras picked himself up and continued walking before he was struck by a second vehicle near a gas station about a quarter-mile away, authorities said.
Sheriff’s deputies responding to emergency calls arrived at the scene shortly before 10 a.m., authorities said.
Neither of the two collisions “was hard enough to incapacitate or disable” Contreras, said sheriff’s spokesperson Gloria Huerta.
As deputies approached Contreras, they discovered he was carrying a knife, authorities said.
Contreras refused deputies’ commands to drop the knife, and when he advanced on them the deputies opened fire on him, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The department’s Specialized Investigation Division is handling the investigation.
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