NEW YORK
A police officer used his patrol car to crash into an armed suspect in the U.S. state of Arizona, a police video showed Wednesday.
The suspect, who survived the Feb. 19 crash, allegedly robbed a convenience store, broke into a church, invaded a home, stole a car and firing a shot at police with a stolen rifle, the Marana Police Department said.
Police dashboard camera video shows an officer drove his cruiser at high speed and rammed into Mario Valencia, 36, sending him flying into the air.
Police in the suburb of Tucson, defended officer Michael Rapiejko indicating that he probably saved Valencia's life by using "his marked police car to stop the dangerous situation."
Police Chief Terry Rozema told local KVOA-TV that police might have had "no choice but to begin firing" at the Valencia if he had approached an officer.
"The thought is to take a shot, which would have been completely justified," he said. "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."
Prosecutors cleared Rapiejko of any wrongdoing, but he was put on a standard administrative leave because the incident was considered use of force, according to Fox News.
The incident came at a time when a series of recent high-profile cases of police brutality have stirred racial tensions, setting off nationwide protests over alleged injustices within the U.S. justice system.
On April 7, a white police officer in South Carolina was charged with murder after cell phone video showed him fatally shooting a 50-year-old black man eight times in the back during a traffic stop.
A week later, authorities in Oklahoma said a reserve deputy who shot and killed an unarmed black man during an undercover operation had mistakenly used his handgun instead of his stun gun when he opened fire.
