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http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...ana-arizona-police-car-rams-suspect/25800695/
An Arizona police chief is defending an officer who was recorded driving a cruiser diagonally across a street and slamming into an armed suspect walking along a sidewalk.
Marana Police Chief Terry Rozema released dashcam videos of the violent Feb. 19 crash this week.
Officer Michael Rapiejko crashed his car into suspect Mario Valencia, 36, who police say fired a shot at officers. Valencia is accused of stealing a rifle from a Walmart, leading a home invasion, robbing a convenience store and firing a shot at police with the stolen firearm.
The videos represent a new twist in the recent rush of recorded confrontations between police officers and suspects of color. Police fired no shots, Valencia, who is Latino, was hospitalized in serious condition but released and sent to jail two days later.
Rozema defended the officer's decision to ram into Valencia. He told Tucson's
KVOA-TV that if Valencia had approached an officer, police would have had "no choice but to begin firing" at the suspect.
"The thought is to take a shot, which would have been completely justified. Then he is looking at it as this guy has a high-powered rifle. If I miss, he is going to turn and start firing on us and we are at a big disadvantage at that point," the police chief said.
Valencia's lawyer disagrees.
"Everything in the video seems to point towards an obvious excessive use of force. It is miraculous that my client isn't dead," attorney Michelle Cohen-Metzger told
CNN.
Marana, a fast growing Pima County city of 40,000 about 25 northwest of Tucson, has a police force of about 85 officers. The county Attorney's office cleared Rapiejko of any wrongdoing. Valencia faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, armed robbery, unlawful discharge of a firearm and other counts.
Two videos were released, one from the car that struck Valencia and one from a nearby cruiser. The first video shows the dashboard camera view of a cruiser approaching the suspect. The officer says to the suspect: "You don't wanna do this, you don't wanna do this." He tells the dispatcher that the man has a gun to his neck.
The other video is from the dashcam of a cruiser that speeds past the first cruiser and cuts diagonally across the road heading directly for the suspect. A loud bang is heard and the cruiser's windshield cracks from the impact.
The release of the videos follows a public outcry over a series of cases captured on video across the nation. In places such as Ferguson, Mo., North Charleston, S.C., Tulsa, Okla., and New York City, unarmed black men died at the hands of police.
Rozema stressed the different outcome in his city.
"This guy ends up in the hospital for a couple days, no doubt. But he walks away," Rozema said. "I'm just grateful."
