At first, Tempe police in Arizona believed the two Phoenix cops accused of terrorizing a couple during a traffic stop earlier this month were police impersonators because the encounter appeared more like an attempted carjacking than an actual traffic stop.
But the suspects turned out to be actual cops who have since been fired and arrested on several felony charges.
The now-former officers are Luis Vasquez Jr. and Antonio Felix, both 31. Authorities accuse them of pulling the driver-side window outward and repeatedly punching the male driver in the face while repeatedly using a Taser on both victims.
Rogue Cops Acted Like Criminals
“There is no excuse for the conduct those two officers engaged in,” Phoenix Police Chief Matt Giordano said during a Saturday night press conference announcing the officers’ arrests and firings.
They each face multiple felony allegations, including aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, assault involving a restrained person, threatening or intimidating, criminal damage, hindering prosecution and tampering with physical evidence.
“Their actions severely undermine trust in law enforcement and violate the standards we expect from those who serve,” Giordano said.
Both former officers posted $100,000 secured appearance bonds and remain under GPS monitoring. Their alleged motives remain unclear.
The Tempe officer who took the initial report wrote that the couple “may have been victims of an attempted carjacking by suspects impersonating police officers.”
The report redacts the victims’ names but identifies the driver as a white man born in 2002 and the passenger as an Asian woman born in 2001.
Phoenix police said the incident occurred around 11:30 p.m. on Aug. 5 in South Phoenix. The male driver then left the scene and drove into Tempe, which led Tempe police to become involved.
‘I’m Gonna Shoot You in Three Seconds’
The officers did not activate their body cameras or file a report explaining why they confronted the couple in the 2014 Dodge Charger, according to The Arizona Republic.
Investigators questioned the former officers, who said they stopped the Charger because they suspected the driver was impaired, believed he did not match the vehicle’s registered owner, and considered the neighborhood a “high-crime area.”
The victims told investigators the cops pulled them over, tapping the Charger’s rear bumper with the police SUV’s front bumper.
The two men then allegedly tried to open both doors and ordered the couple out of the car.
The driver said one man pulled the partly lowered driver-side window outward, reached inside, unlocked the door and tried to remove his seatbelt. The passenger said the other man put her in an arm bar, threatened to break her arm and pressed a Taser against her thigh and back before pulling her from the car.
The passenger said the man handcuffed her and pushed her face down onto the sidewalk. The driver said the other man repeatedly used the Taser against his ribs and arms while punching him in the face and head. He estimated that he was punched about seven times.
The driver also said one of the men seized his phone, threw it into the street, pulled his hair and threatened to shoot him with a handgun.
“I’m gonna shoot you in three seconds,” the driver said the man told him before counting down. The driver then got back into the Charger and drove away.
‘We Know Where You Live Now’
The female passenger said police had already handcuffed her and placed her in the back of the SUV when the driver escaped in the Charger.
After he left, the report says, the men removed her handcuffs, released her and told her, “We know where you live now.” She walked home, which the Tempe officer estimated took roughly 45 minutes.
The driver traveled through Phoenix and into Tempe before the Charger overheated near Priest Drive and Baseline Road. He left the vehicle and walked to a family member’s residence in Guadalupe, according to the report.
Tempe officers later found the Charger disabled, with a burning odor, tire-rubber smell and the driver-side window broken and pulled outward.
A Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office deputy first spotted the disabled car and saw the driver walking away, according to the report.
Tempe police responded at about 12:11 a.m. on Aug. 6 and checked with neighboring agencies to determine whether the Charger had fled from a police stop. Dispatch found no record that any agency, including Phoenix police, had contacted the vehicle that night.
Tempe police then contacted the car’s registered owner, the male driver’s mother, who said her son had permission to drive it.
While officers were speaking with her, the female passenger arrived at the apartment and told her what had happened. The passenger then recounted the incident to a Tempe officer by phone.
The report says the male driver initially feared speaking with police but later gave a detailed account by telephone.
At that stage, Tempe police still believed the men may have been police impersonators. They referred the case to Phoenix police because the alleged encounter occurred in Phoenix.
‘Egregious Criminal Conduct’
Phoenix police initially doubted that department officers had been involved.
“When I was first made aware of the situation, I had the same reaction,” Giordano said. “There’s no way this could be Phoenix police officers. It’s so far outside the bounds of our policies.”
Phoenix police later identified the suspects as Felix and Vasquez and placed them on administrative leave on Aug. 20 as the criminal investigation proceeded.
Officers arrested and fired both men on Aug. 22 after they lied about their involvement with the traffic stop despite evidence that they had contacted dispatch about the Charger.
“When Phoenix Police dispatch saw that Vasquez and Felix had checked the license plate, they asked about it,” according to a statement from Phoenix police. “Both former officers denied making any stop or having any interaction.”
At their initial appearance, Tom Van Dorn, a deputy county attorney and public-safety liaison with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, argued that the men should remain in custody, citing danger and flight-risk concerns.
“Your Honor, these offenses were committed by on-duty police officers in a fully marked Phoenix police Tahoe,” Van Dorn told the judge, according to local media.
The judge set a $100,000 secured appearance bond for each man and required GPS monitoring if released. Public reporting does not establish whether either man paid the full amount, used a surety bond or posted collateral.
Chief Giordano told the media that both cops have had previous policy violations but did not go into details. Vasquez had worked for the department for eight years while Felix has been with the department for nine years.
“There is significantly more information uncovered demonstrating the egregious criminal conduct committed by these officers,” Giordano said.
