Incredible story of how Covina cross country coach Andrew Tachias survived the Christopher Dorner shooting rampage Posted on January 15, 2015 by Fred Robledo The goal was to lose weight, not to become a head coach. But that is what has happened to Andrew Tachias. The Riverside Police Department officer, who was wounded in an alleged shooting spree by ex-Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner in 2013, has become Covina High School’s cross country coach. He replaces Erik Starkey. “I always thought in the back of my mind about coaching,” Tachias said. “I never thought it would work out, but the opportunity presented itself.” Actually, it’s probably the last thing Tachias, 28, thought he would be doing. “I expected to be a police officer for 30 years,” he said. “I trained and worked hard for that.” It all changed on Feb. 7, 2013. He was on patrol when he and partner Michael Crain were allegedly ambushed in a hailstorm of gunfire at a Riverside intersection by Dorner. Crain died and Tachias was shot eight times. Dorner had just allegedly fired shots at a pair of LAPD officers and was fleeing the scene when he came across Tachias and Crain, waiting at a stoplight in southwest Riverside.
