Two Phoenix police officers have been terminated and arrested after authorities said they carried out an unreported traffic stop during which a man and woman were assaulted and shocked with a Taser.
Phoenix Police Chief Matt Giordano said at a Saturday news conference that former officers Antonio Felix and Luis Vasquez were taken into custody on charges that include aggravated assault and kidnapping.
“Detectives have confirmed that the two former officers physically assaulted both the man and woman during the traffic stop,” Giordano said. “The investigation also shows that a Taser was used on the victims during the stop.”
Police said the Aug. 5 traffic stop was never reported by the officers, who also failed to turn on their body-worn cameras.
“There is no video evidence, but we established what we believe is probable cause that these crimes were committed,” Giordano said, noting that investigators had found no evidence suggesting the officers knew the two victims.
Dave Evans, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, said Sunday that Vasquez had been released from custody, while Felix was still being held at the Lower Buckeye Jail in Phoenix.
The Associated Press was unable to determine who was representing the former officers in order to seek comment from their defense attorneys.
According to a Phoenix police statement, the late-night stop involved a male driver and a female passenger, who reported that the officers smashed the vehicle’s window.
Vasquez punched the man and threatened to shoot him, while the woman was removed from the vehicle and handcuffed.
The man managed to drive away and abandoned the car in neighboring Tempe, while the woman was released at the scene, the statement said.
A police officer in neighboring Tempe who responded to the abandoned car asked over dispatch whether it had fled from any neighboring police agencies and was told it had not, according to a Tempe police report.
The Tempe officer called the car’s registered owner, the mother of the male driver, and through her was able to connect with the woman passenger and eventually the male driver.
The woman passenger told the officer that both of them had been shocked with a Taser, while the man later told the officer that he had been punched in the face multiple times and that they had repeatedly asked why they had been stopped.
The Tempe officer wrote in the report that he believed they were victims of an attempted carjacking by people impersonating police officers.
Giordano, the Phoenix police chief, said he had a similar reaction when he initially learned of the incident as it was “so far outside the bounds of our policies.” But when detectives started looking into it, they realized Phoenix officers might be involved and transitioned the case to a special investigations detail, he said.
“That’s when they started putting evidence together, including the automatic vehicle locator that did put a vehicle at that location about the time that the victims reported it occurred,” Giordano said, referring to the location technology in city vehicles.
Vasquez and Felix had served eight and nine years with Phoenix police, respectively. Giordano, without elaborating, said both had previously violated department policy but that it was “nothing of this nature.”
The Phoenix department’s investigation and audit are ongoing. The officers have a scheduled court date on Friday.
