BRUTAL COPS TERRORIZE A COUPLE ARRESTED & CHARGED #police #cops #government #camera

New details tonight after two Phoenix police officers are arrested. They've both been fired and are facing several felony charges after a violent traffic stop earlier this month. Andrew Christensen is live with the latest tonight. Andrew. Brian Luis Vasquez Jr. And Antonio Felix are those officers that are being investigated. And during the press conference, we actually learned that this is the first day that they were interviewed by police detectives. We also know that they did not wear their body worn cameras. Oh, no. Tell me that ain't so. We know cops would not turn off their body cameras when it's fiction to beat the hell out of a couple people during the incident and also did not report their use of force. A top lie on the report. They would never do this. We recognize this erodes community trust, and I am committed to rebuilding that trust starting today. Why just today? Why not since you've been in office? According to a Tempe police report on August 5th, a couple says they were attacked in South Phoenix by two men. Tempe then handed the investigation over to Phoenix police, who later identified the two men as officers Luis Vasquez Jr. And Antonio Felix. Their actions severely undermine trust in law enforcement and violate the standards we expect from those who serve. The report says a suspect put a female in an arm bar and used a taser on her. One of the suspects allegedly tased the driver and punched him in the face, saying he was gonna shoot him. This is a very traumatic situation, which and I think we all can recognize it would be, but they were willing enough once we worked on that relationship with them to tell us what happened. The Phoenix Police Department says they were on duty during the incident and were put on administrative leave on August 13th paid vacation. I felt on that date putting them on administrative leave. In my opinion, they do no more harm to our community members. And then we investigate fully. So therefore, when this goes through the judicial process, we have everything. All our ducks in a row. Phoenix Police Chief Matthew Giordano announcing today Vasquez and Felix are facing several charges. Those include aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, felony assault involving bound or otherwise physically restrained individual threatening and intimidating criminal damage, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence. We have very strict guidelines on how you do traffic stops when you turn your body on camera on when you document damage when you document use of force when you notify a supervisor. None of that happened. Giordano says they're still investigating a motive. They're looking through information like radio traffic and their automatic vehicle locator. We worked so hard over the last several years to build trust and our to me, it seems like we're taking steps steps backwards. We need to continue to move forward and continue to look to provide a better level of service to the community. And both Vasquez and Felix have been transferred to the Maricopa County Jail. We also learned during the press conference that they do have past policy violations, but the phoenix Police Department says it's nothing of this nature. They also say that this is still an ongoing investigation. Two former phoenix police officers appeared before a judge hours after being heard for their involvement in a traffic stop on august 5th while on duty. This was an off the books traffic stop for life in the better term. Luis Vasquez Jr and Antonio Felix didn't activate their body worn cameras or document and report the traffic stop as policy requires according to police. But new court records reveal what the pair allegedly said happened only after an investigation into their conduct was initiated. Vasquez and Felix both allegedly admitted to conducting a traffic stop on a driver showing signs of intoxication after completing a records check on the license plate. Felix allegedly told investigators the situation escalated quickly when the driver and passenger refused to get out of the car during the traffic stop. Vasquez is accused of punching the driver with a closed fist repeatedly while Felix allegedly taste him and the passenger. A forensic examination of the taser revealed six safety switch events and 29 electrical discharges. They're also accused of restraining the passenger in the patrol car and pulling a gun on the driver. They used extreme and unjustified violence against these victims. According to court records, Felix told investigators he acted out of fear for his and his partner's lives and safety. While Vasquez didn't say what his intentions were, he allegedly told detectives he didn't report what happened out of fear of the consequence of the multitude of policy violations. Your honor, police officers hold one of the most sacred positions of trust in our society on the condition that they will use their authority to protect and serve and not cause harm. But that's exactly what these defendants did. They caused harm. Here's the chief's full press conference. Things good. Sorry for the delay. Is everybody ready? Good. Okay. Thank you. My name is Commander Mercedes Fortune. M. E. R. C. E. D. E. S. F. O. R. T. U. N. E. I'm the commander of the Public Affairs Bureau. I wanted to provide a brief summary of the incident. And after the summary, Chief Giordano will provide you with an update on where the case is today. And Chief Giordano's last name is spelled G. I. O. R. D. A. N. O. This investigation is brought to the attention of the Phoenix Police Department by Tempe Police. And on August 13th, the officers involved replaced an immediate administrative leave. We learned that the two officers, Luis Vasquez Jr. And that's spelled V. A. S. Q. U. E. Z. And Antonio Felix, last name is F. E. L. I. X. Stopped a vehicle on August 5th at approximately 11 30 p.m. in the area of 19th Avenue and Broadway. During that traffic stop, force was used against both the man and the woman. The traffic stop was not reported by Officer Vasquez or Felix. Additionally, the body wearing camera. There was no body wearing camera activation. The special assignments investigation detail assumed that investigation for the criminal allegations. Today, officers Vasquez and Felix were interviewed by detectives. Chief Giordano will now provide you an update into that investigation. Good evening. Thanks for being here. As Mercedes said, my name is Matt Giordano. I'm here to share with you that former officers Felix and Vasquez have been arrested and I fired them both. They're charged with the following crimes aggravated assault, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, felony assault involving bound or otherwise physically restrained individual threatening and intimidating criminal damage, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence. Detectives have confirmed that the two former officers physically assaulted both the man and woman during the traffic stop. The investigation also shows that a taser was used on the victims during the stop. There is significantly more information uncovered demonstrating the egregious criminal conduct committed by these officers. Their actions severely undermine trust in law enforcement and violate the standards we expect from those who serve. Many people want to understand how this could happen. There is no excuse for the conduct that these two officers engaged in. My commitment is not limited to the criminal investigation. This will not stop here tonight. The Professional Standards Bureau will move forward to identify if any other individuals are involved and determine whether there are broader systemic concerns. Our Organizational Integrity Bureau has already begun its audits and any findings related to unacceptable behavior will be addressed accordingly. When we become aware of misconduct, we take action and we hold officers accountable. No community members should suffer what happened here. We recognize this erodes community trust, and I am committed to rebuilding that trust starting today. With that, I'm happy to answer a few questions. Chief, you said that, um, PSB will be looking at, um, if this is a systemic is their concern that other officers in this unit, um, may have known about this or could have done similar things. Is that what you're describing? My concern is more broader than that. I don't have any indication now that anyone else is aware of this, but I can't just take that a face value. We need to look into that, look at the data and look for any other possible connections. But at this point, I have no indication that that exists. There are no other officer on leave. I don't. I still have. I still have questions. This is ongoing investigation. That's why our Internal Affairs Bureau will continue to work on this and try to determine that. I don't know what their motivation at this time. Yes. Today was the first day they were interviewed by detectives. Correct. They were on duty. Today was the first time they were as a layman on August 13th to put them on leave covering other cases with the same charges. I don't recall a case where folks waited for a week and a half to be interviewed. Detectives would normally go pick them up right away. Did they receive any special treatment here because their officers? Absolutely not. I would argue that complex criminal investigations such as this take time to build. You might not be aware of that. You just see what they can arrest. You don't see when we found out about the case and what we did to build that case. My important to me is making sure not only making an arrest that's important to me. I felt on that date, putting them on administrative leave. In my opinion, they do no more harm to our community members, and then we investigate fully. So therefore, when this goes through the judicial process, we have everything. All of our ducks in a row, and we have no issues at trial. Should this go to trial? This assault happened. Was there any video evidence? There's no video evidence, but we established what we believe is probable cause that these crimes all commit were committed. Yes, as you said, this doesn't stop right here. Obviously, we continue to look into other ways or to just always get better and earn the trust. But M. C. A. O. Told us that, you know, as this all happened, if these officers are tied into other cases, right when it comes to being a witness or someone to testify, this could now domino effect into multiple other issues. So as a department, what is the response to that? About how multiple different cases can now be impacted from two officers? We're working very closely with our partners over the Maricopa County Attorney's Office for that exact purpose to make sure that we can minimize the best of our abilities. Future criminal prosecutions that these officers may have been involved in. You talk about building trust. I think anybody can take that and say, Okay, well, that's great. What are the tangible steps to building trust that you can see for your office? Well, I on a Saturday night, just a little over a week from when we found out about this, that this occurred and we've taken swift, decisive action and now we're sharing with the community and we'll continue to share as we move along. We recognize the erosion of public trust. This creates. We worked so hard over the last several years to build trust and now to me, it seems like we're taking steps backwards. We need to continue to move forward and continue to look to provide a better level of service to the community. Yes. One had about eight years on one had about nine years on. Yes, sir. There were details in the Tempe police report suggesting that the officers weren't in typical uniform, that they weren't using a typical police cruiser. Do you have any additional information on that scenario? Whether they were really acting as legitimate police officers in that stop? We have proof that they were in their city vehicle through a VL technology, automatic vehicle locator system. So we know the vehicle was in the area at the time. We saw the same information. We've been able to, we've been unable to confirm that they were out of anything other than a traditional policing from. They both wear uniform, just very similar to mine every day for their interviews today. Do they plead the fifth? Did they say anything that assisted you or they both gave voluntary statements in the presence of their attorney? Is there any? Sorry, go ahead for it. No indication they knew the victims in there is no indication that they knew the victims or the victims knew the officers previously. The victims participated as part of this investigation. So far, as you can imagine, they were very hesitant to deal with us at the very beginning. Our detectives are incredibly professional, empathetic and caring, reached out to them multiple times to build up that level of trust and they have been cooperative. Picking back up his question about obviously the questioning and how it's taken a few days for detectives actually questioning the first time with us today. Why did it take so long before we had any of the ability with you? Why did it take so long to have any availability like this with you? When it comes to... You did release the video, which was great to talk originally that answered a lot of questions about trust, but it took a little bit for us to... Our stations asked for some one on one with you as well, but why the time? Well, in any criminal, complex criminal investigation, we need to keep some details very, very closed off. And when I do an interview like this, it's hard to do that, because you guys ask a lot of very in depth questions. So again, we did need to keep some of that information that only the people involved in the situation would know. We can't let that get out. There's also identification of the officers involved, the former officers. So we wanna make sure we keep it as closed as we can until we're at a point where we're comfortable releasing that information. It's not hiding information, it's just maintaining it in a closed silo so we don't impede our criminal investigation and our ultimate prosecution. Yes. Are they being held in Maricopa County? They will be transferred over there this evening. Where are they being held right now? At a city facility. There's a lot of paperwork that goes into transferring someone into the Sheriff's custody. That's the last question right here. Was there any indication from dispatch that the officers were involved in a traffic stop at the time, or what did the computer system or the records say the officers were doing at the time of the incident? There's no indication that they had status themselves out on the computer. Let me ask a question then from someone who might... Let's provide a defense for the officers. They just forgot to radio in this stop. They didn't turn in their body cameras, but they might argue that this was legitimate, that they used this force and they needed to. What would you say to someone that's gonna argue that on their behalf? Are we speaking hypothetically or are you... No, I've already seen the comments. People say, well, what if this is a legitimate stop and they just forgot to radio in it? Well, we believe that we met the elements of those criminal charges that I listed out. Everything you mentioned are significant and serious policy violations. We have very strict guidelines on how you do traffic stops, when you turn your body or camera on, when you document damage, when you document use of force, when you notify a supervisor. None of that happened. So again, I think that would be, in my opinion, egregious violations of departmental policy that I think moved into criminal behavior. Yes? Have either officer been disciplined previously for previous infractions, either policy wise or criminally? Yeah, I did look through their... And we will continue to dive into their history. They both had prior policy violations. I don't wanna go to too much detail on that now, but nothing of this nature. This all stemmed from a police car being... Sorry, excuse me. A car being found in Tempe that was connected to all of this. This is how it all started. Would you know about this, if that car would not have been found and Tempe police wouldn't have brought the issue to you guys? Very thankful to the Tempe Police Department for getting involved in this and making us aware of it. I don't know. I can't speak to what may or may not have happened. Tempe did find the vehicle very shortly after this incident occurred, so it could have come in later on its own. I don't know. That'd be speculating. I just... I couldn't do that. Yes, sir, in the middle. No? I thought you had your hand up. I'm sorry. I'm recording. Oh, you're recording. I'm sorry. Just a couple more questions. Go ahead. Ford first, then... Tempe report sounded... They made it very clear that they thought these couldn't have been officers, that these were people impersonating police officers. When they passed the case on to you, at what point and what evidence came forward that made you turn to these two specific officers? You know, it's a great point, because when I was first made aware of the situation, I had the same reaction. There's no way this could be Phoenix police officers. It's so far outside the bounds of our policies. I was just as shocked as Tempe was that this could be Phoenix police officers. When we were able to start... Our investigators start looking at it, because again, Tempe originally thought it was people impersonating the police officers, but it happened in Phoenix. So they took the original, sent it to us for further investigations to happen in our jurisdiction. Our detectives started looking into it and immediately recognized, hey, this might actually be police officers, and we transitioned it to our special investigations detail. That's what they do. They investigate any crime committed by any city employee, and that's when they started putting evidence together, including the automatic vehicle locator that did put a vehicle in that location about the time that the victims reported it occurred. Was there any consideration in outsourcing the investigation? There wasn't. One, I have complete faith in our detectives and the thoroughness of which they do their investigations. But more importantly, it's a time matter for me. This is very serious, very egregious. We took them offline right away. I wanted this resolved, because again, someone talked about eroding public trust and not providing information. The longer we leave this out there, the more people fill in details, and the more trust we erode. I wanted this done quickly. I wanted it done correctly. And when we outsource investigations, I lose a little control of the timeline, and it might not be a priority to other agencies. We're just a priority. We were all hands on deck for the last week. Everyone's working on this case. That's how we kept it. You mentioned investigating whether others were involved in this. Is there going to be a larger investigation or audit of the South Mountain precinct in particular? Already started. We have our Organizational Integrity Bureau, as well as our Professional Standards Bureau. They're already looking at all the data. We track a lot of data, body worn cameras, radio traffic, the automatic vehicle locator in our vehicles, all that. We've already started. We'll be going through all that with a fine tooth comb, looking for anomalies, looking for things that just aren't right, to see if there's any other issues. Last question, what do you say to the victims? How is the city supporting the victim? What do you say to people that have this happened? Well, first and foremost, it should never have happened to them at all. But secondly, thank you for trusting us and talking to us, telling us what happened to make sure that we could address it, address it appropriately and hold these former officers accountable. Again, I know that wasn't easy for them. This is a very traumatic situation, and I think we all can recognize it would be, but they were willing enough once we worked on that relationship with them to tell us what happened, let us work with them, and then we'll move forward together. Thank you. And I will be sending out an update, an actual media advisory as well, with the photos of the Vasquez and Felix with you guys. And once I have bookie numbers, those will also be shared with you. Thank you very much. Now that is without a doubt, the walk of shame. Y'all come back now, yeah.