Dash-cams capture Arizona police car plowing into robbery suspect

Dash-cam video shows a police car ramming into a robbery suspect

(Image credit: AP/YouTube)

published 15 April 2015

On Tuesday, the Marana, Arizona, police department released dashboard-camera footage of a Feb. 19 incident in which a police cruiser rammed into an armed robbery suspect at high speed, sending him flying into the air. The suspect, 36-year-old Mario Valencia, survived the crash. The police officer driving the car, Michael Rapiejko, was put on administrative leave but is now back on the job after the Pima County Attorney's Office cleared him of wrongdoing, The Associated Press reports.

According to Marana police Sgt. Chris Warren, Valencia first robbed a convenience store in nearby Tucson, then broke into a church and a home, before stealing a car and driving it to a Walmart, where he stole the rifle he was carrying when he was hit. The video below shows the incident from two angles, and AP stops the clip before it shows anything too gruesome. —Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.