MARANA, Ariz., April 15 (UPI) -- A police officer in Marana, Ariz., won't face charges for ramming an armed suspect with a police cruiser, the district attorney's office said.
The incident gained national attention Tuesday after dash cam footage was released of Mario Valencia, 36, who was struck by the police vehicle Feb. 19.
Valencia was wanted for a series of alleged crimes that led him to stealing a rifle and ammunition from a Walmart, according to police. He was walking down the street of West Coca Cola Place when he was approached by a police officer who was trailing Valencia slowly in his vehicle.
Valencia placed the end of the rifle underneath his chin and began walking away from the officer.
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"Stand off, stand off, the gun is loaded," the officer who was following Valencia from inside his vehicle said in the video after a seemingly suicidal Valencia apparently fired the gun in the air during the February incident.
The officer was alerting nearby officers via radio of the developing situation when, moments later, Officer Michael Rapiejko rammed his cop cruiser into Valencia as he was walking.
"Oh, Jesus Christ. Man down," the officer said in reaction after he saw Valencia was slammed by Rapiejko's cruiser. Valencia was hospitalized in serious condition for two days before being released into police custody.
Pima County attorney Barbara LaWall wrote a letter to Marana Police Chief Terry Rozema on March 31 saying Rapiejko wouldn't face charges for the incident.
"Given all of the circumstances of this case, there is insufficient evidence to prove that Officer Repiejko had the requisite criminal intent for aggravated assault," the letter said.
"As Officer Rapiejko arrived in the area, he could see Mr. Valencia was headed toward some businesses," the letter continued. "There were also other officers in the area. Officer Rapiejko was approximately fifty yards away. Officer Rapiejko determined that Mr Valencia would be able to fire the gun quickly at businesses and therefore decided he needed to stop Mr. Valencia from proceeding any further."
Rozema defended the officer's actions, stating Valencia was walking with a loaded weapon into an area where hundreds of people worked.
"If we're going to choose between maybe we'll let him go a little bit farther and see what happens, or we're going to take him out now and eliminate any opportunity he has to hurt somebody, you're going to err on the side of, in favor of the innocent people," Rozema told CNN. "Without a doubt."
Valencia's lawyer, Michelle Cohen-Metzger, disagrees. She argues police did nothing to de-escalate a situation in which her client was "clearly suicidal, clearly in crisis."
"Everything in the video seems to point toward an obvious excessive use of force. It is miraculous that my client isn't dead," Cohen-Metzger said. "I find it ludicrous to say that we're saving this man's life who's suicidal by almost killing him."
"This officer made a split-second decision, and in retrospect, when all the dust clears, I think we look at this and say, yeah, there's things we can learn from this but the entire community is safe, all the officers are safe, and even the suspect in this case is safe," said Rozema, adding that police officers would have begun firing their weapons at Valencia had he continued to walk down the street with the weapon.
