Dash-cam video shows; Arizona police officer ramming his cruiser into armed robbery suspect

A dash-cam captured a police officer using his cruiser to smash into an armed suspect and sending him flying in the air before crashing the vehicle into a wall, in a Tucson suburban neighborhood.

The man survived the crash which took place on Feb 19^th therefore prosecutors cleared the officer of any wrongdoing.

The video had been released on Tuesday and the U.S is hyped about it especially because it released at a time where excessive use of force by police has been in spotlight and people are protesting about it.

Mario Valencia, 36, the man who had been hit, already has numerous felony charges which also include assault on a police officer. Michelle Cohen-Metzger, his attorney has not commented on the matter to the Associated Press yet.

Marana police Sgt. Chris Warren said that Valencia robbed a convenience store, broke into a church, a home and had stolen a car. Valencia had been driving the stolen car to Marana, north of Tucson, where he went to a WalMart and a stole a rifle from there.

It had been seen in videos from 2 different police cruisers that Valencia had been walking on a busy business corridor with a rifle in his hands where at time he even pointed it to himself, threatening to kill himself.

It was seen in one of the dash-cam videos that an officer slowly driving behind Valencia as he shoots the rifle in the air. The officer warns the other to stay back as the suspect had been armed.

In only a matter of seconds, another officer drives his patrol car very fast and smashed into Valencia sending him flying into the air while other officers quickly swarmed the scene.

The officer who smashed into Valencia had been identified as Michael Rapiejko and according to Warren had been placed on administrative leave for use of force in the incident. The Pima County Attorney’s Office has cleared Rapiejko of any wrongdoing and he has been back on the force, according to Warren.