Ex-Phoenix Officers Admit Roles in Aug. 5 Violent Stop, Face $100,000 Bonds

Q: What happened to the victims' car between the brutal, unrecorded traffic stop and its mysterious discovery in another city hours later?

What happened to the car is only partly established. The clearest account from police reports is that after the alleged assault, the male victim got back into the Dodge Charger and drove away from the stop. He later abandoned it in Tempe, near Priest Drive and Baseline Road, after it overheated or became disabled. Tempe police found it there shortly before 1 a.m. on Aug. 6. What remains unexplained is the gap between the stop in south Phoenix and the car’s discovery in another city. Investigators have not publicly detailed the route, timing, or condition of the vehicle during those hours, and Phoenix police have not said whether the car was further damaged during the stop beyond the reported broken window and bumper contact. The available reporting does not indicate that the officers took the car or transported it themselves. Instead, the evidence so far points to the driver fleeing in it after being beaten and threatened, then leaving it behind when it could no longer continue. That unresolved timeline is part of why the case drew such scrutiny. Tempe officers initially suspected the couple may have encountered police impostors or been victims of a carjacking, because the abandoned car and the victims’ account did not match any recorded Phoenix police stop. Investigators are still working to fill in those missing details.

3 articles · Updated · Arizona's Family · Aug 23

$100,000 secured bonds were set for former Phoenix officers Antonio Felix, 31, and Luis Vasquez Jr., 31, after court papers said both admitted parts of an Aug. 5 violent traffic stop.
Court documents say the officers, in an unmarked Tahoe, followed a Dodge Charger with intermittent lights and siren, bumped its rear, then threatened the occupants, used a Taser and punches, and drew a gun.
Vasquez told detectives he thought he was stopping a drunk driver, admitted punching the driver and threatening to shoot him, and said he skipped his body camera and report for fear of policy-violation consequences.
Felix also said he believed the driver was impaired, but court records say neither officer explained why they did not call for backup, notify a supervisor or provide evidence supporting their accounts.
Prosecutors said there was no body-camera footage, radio traffic, call for service, use-of-force report or supervisor notification, deepening scrutiny of what Police Chief Matt Giordano called egregious criminal conduct.