Arizona Cop Runs Suspect Over With Squad Car

Arizona Cop Runs Suspect Over With Squad Car

Looks like some cops are skipping the whole middle-man of actually having a confrontation with their suspects and attempting to kill them before even bothering to exit their vehicles. Police in Arizona released dash-cam footage from multiple angles showing the moment one officer decided to run-over an armed hispanic suspect with his squad car — later praised by the Chief of Police for potentially saving the suspect’s life with his actions.

Um…okay. Via CBSnews:

Police in Arizona released video from a dashboard camera showing how a police officer used his cruiser to put an end to a crime spree in February, CBS affiliate KOLD-TV in Tucson reported.

In the video, recorded Feb. 19, an apparent gunshot is heard as suspect Mario Valencia is seen walking down a street in Marana, a town northwest of Tucson.

Then, in a decision that Marana police Chief Terry Rozema says probably saved Valencia’s life, Officer Michael Rapiejko drives his cruiser onto the sidewalk and rams Valencia.

According to Marana police, Valencia was fleeing from a Walmart where he had allegedly stolen a rifle. He had already been intercepted by police near a post office, where he pointed the rifle at his head multiple times and threatened suicide before firing the gun in another direction and fleeing.

Police do not know if he was shooting at officers, and no one was hit by the bullet.

The pursuit came to an end outside a self storage facility nearby, where Rapiejko hit the suspect with his cruiser.

“This was a dangerous felon who’d been on a crime spree throughout the morning,” Marana Police Sgt. Chris Warren told KOLD-TV in February. “He’d just stolen a weapon, loaded it, was not obeying commands from officers and was walking toward occupied businesses. It’s a busy time of morning, a lot of employees at work, a lot getting ready to come out for breaks, he’s walking toward those businesses. So we had to take immediate action and make sure he didn’t get inside those businesses.”

At least this suspect was actually armed before the police made an attempt on his life. What do you think…was running over the suspect at full speed and ramming the squad car through a concrete wall a bit overkill?

CBS