TUCSON, Ariz. – Dramatic dash-cam videos of an arrest in Arizona put the public in the driver’s seat as an officer plows his cruiser into a rifle-toting robbery suspect at high speed. Policing experts on Wednesday called the officer’s tactics unconventional and even outrageous, but justified, given the circumstances.
The images police released Tuesday provoked intense responses among tens of thousands of people after they were posted on the Internet, providing a new angle to the national debate about how police officers use force. Some expressed outrage, accusing the officer of unnecessarily using deadly force. Others said he deserves a medal for disarming an active shooter with his car.
Prosecutors cleared Marana Police Officer Michael Rapiejko of any wrongdoing after he swerved around another officer who had been cautiously tailing the robbery suspect, accelerated and rammed into the man’s back Feb. 19.
The videos show Mario Valencia, 36, cart-wheeling through the air in the instant before the cruiser slams into a retaining wall, shattering its windshield. Rapiejko and other officers then jump out from all over, guns drawn, to make sure Valencia stays down.
Police say the officer brought an abrupt end to a violent crime spree by Valencia, who allegedly threatened police with a stolen hunting rifle and fired a shot moments before the crash. Valencia allegedly stole the .30-.30 rifle from a Walmart after trying to set a church on fire, invading a home and stealing a car.
Experts in police training and tactics say the video illustrates the split-second decisions officers must make in life-or-death situations and appeared to be completely justified considering that an erratic suspect was firing a long-range weapon.
Still, they call it anything but a textbook maneuver – and one that police chiefs everywhere should tell their officers not to repeat.
“It is an outrageous video without a doubt, and anybody watching that is going to have that reaction,” said Jim Bueermann, a former police chief whose nonprofit Police Foundation is dedicated to improving policing.
“The problem,” Bueermann said, “is that it is not as simple as a police officer doing a crazy thing. It is an excellent example of how difficult policing can be.”
Valencia survived the crash, apparently without suffering serious injury. So did the officer, who returned to regular duty after a standard three-day leave and was cleared by the Pima County Attorney’s Office.
Valencia now faces several felony charges, including assault on an officer. His attorney, Michelle Cohen-Metzger, has not responded to a request for comment from The Associated Press.
Using a car as a weapon would fall into an area called “unconventional tactics” and is not part of any standard training, said Lou Salseda, a retired sergeant with the Los Angeles Police Department who taught tactics at the agency’s academy.
Standard procedure calls for isolating and containing a gunman, but in this case, because of the rifle’s range, the perimeter would have had to extend for hundreds of yards, requiring vast reinforcements and logistics. In the meantime, an active shooter could have taken hostages or posed additional threats to responding officers, experts say.
Still, this officer was justified in effectively turning his cruiser into a “3,000-pound bullet,” said Ken Cooper, a New York-based use-of-force and firearms trainer.
Cooper said the need for such force was created by the suspect, who was walking around and had already fired a weapon that could easily penetrate building walls, cars and bulletproof vests.
“This officer acted assertively, not aggressively, deciding that citizens and fellow officers were in imminent danger,” Cooper said. “While officers are not trained to use vehicles as bullets, his quick ‘out of the box’ actions absolutely saved the lives of others.”
The images released by police show Valencia walking with a rifle down a busy business corridor. At one point, Valencia points the rifle at himself and threatens to kill himself. At another, Valencia shoots the rifle into the sky.
One of the dash-cam videos was recorded from the cruiser of an officer driving slowly about a half-block behind Valencia.
“Be prepared,” that officer tells his colleagues. “Stand off, stand off, the gun is loaded!”
Moments later, Rapiejko’s patrol car suddenly comes into view, accelerating past the first cruiser and ramming into Valencia at high speed.
“Oh, Jesus Christ, man down!” the first officer shouts as police swarm the scene, guns drawn.
