Arrest documents offered a flurry of new details about two former Phoenix police officers suspected of terrorizing a couple during a traffic stop and failing to document or report the stop.
Those details also suggested Luis Vasquez Jr. and Antonio Felix knew their alleged actions were illegal — or at the least violated a litany of department policies — and actively tried to keep the Aug. 5 traffic stop from coming to light. Neither man has offered an explanation or motive behind the violent stop.
Both former officers have since been arrested and fired in connection with the unreported stop.
But there's a possibility the two could have successfully hid the violent encounter if not for a timely door knock.
A bizarre and violent traffic stop
The initial details of the investigation
came from a Tempe police report that suggested the couple were accosted by men impersonating Phoenix police officers. Tempe police shared their findings with Phoenix, who discovered evidence that suggested otherwise.
The traffic stop began about 11:30 p.m. near 17th Avenue and Broadway Road, according to arrest documents released after they were taken into custody.
Vasquez broke the driver-side window of a 2014 Dodge Charger and punched the driver in the face and groin several times before drawing his department-issued handgun and pointing it at the driver while threatening to shoot him if he didn't exit the vehicle, the documents said.
Felix, meanwhile, repeatedly used a stun gun on the driver's girlfriend while restraining her in an "arm bar" hold and eventually pulled her out of the vehicle, handcuffed her and placed her in the back of their patrol vehicle before repeatedly using the stun gun on the driver as well, the documents said.
The stun gun showed it had been used 29 times during the incident, the documents said.
And while the driver eventually exited the vehicle, he managed to hop back in before Vasquez could handcuff him and sped off, according to records. Vasquez and Felix opted not to pursue him and instead released the girlfriend from custody — but not before telling her "we know where you live," the documents stated.
Investigators find evidence of a coverup
Vasquez and Felix then tried to cover their tracks and remove any evidence that the stop had occurred, the documents said.
The former officers returned to the scene after the woman had left to retrieve items they had left behind during the traffic stop, the documents said. Vasquez found the woman's phone, which investigators noted could have captured the incident or at least a portion of it, and admitted he didn't try to preserve its contents, documents said.
Investigators believe the phone is either lost or destroyed.
Not only did Vasquez and Felix fail to activate their body cameras during the incident, they didn't report the incident whatsoever, documents said. They didn't generate an incident report or contact form, make a call for service or radio transmission, inform a supervisor or do anything that would suggest the stop had happened, according to documents.
“This was an off-the-books traffic stop,” deputy county attorney Tom Van Dorn said during their initial appearance in Maricopa County Superior Court.
Closing a call about the Charger with no mention of stop
Their efforts extended from concealing the traffic stop itself to trying to keep others from investigating further, according to the documents.
Tempe police received a call about the disabled 2014 Dodge Charger with a broken window that had stalled near Priest Drive and Baseline Road and requested Phoenix police notify the vehicle's owner. Vasquez and Felix reported at around 12:50 a.m. Aug. 6 that no one answered the door at the owner's residence and no further action was necessary. They left a voicemail with a Tempe officer, records stated.
Tempe police ultimately contacted the Charger's owner — the assaulted driver's mother — and an officer was on the phone with her when her son's girlfriend knocked at her door and recounted the violent traffic stop she'd just experienced, according to documents. Tempe police ultimately convinced the couple, who were initially too terrified to report the incident, to share what had happened to them, documents said.
It was not clear whether they would ever have reported the traffic stop to police had the Charger's owner not been on the phone with Tempe police when her son's girlfriend knocked on her door.
Former officers lack answers about stop when confronted
When investigators confronted Vasquez and Felix, the former officers told investigators they stopped the Charger because they suspected the driver was intoxicated and didn't match the vehicle's registered owner in a high-crime area, according to the documents.
Vasquez admitted to punching the driver, pulling his hair and pointing his department-issued handgun at him while attempting to get him out of the vehicle, and he didn't report the stop or the use of force because he feared the consequences from the multiple policy violations he had committed, according to documents.
Felix told investigators that the couple's refusal to exit the vehicle made him fear for his and his partner's life but had no evidence that could corroborate that statement, documents stated. He also did not have an explanation as to why neither he nor Vasquez called for backup, report the stop or advise a supervisor.
Phoenix police look to rebuild public trust as officers face felony charges
Chief Matt Giordano announced he had fired and arrested Vasquez and Felix during an Aug. 22 news conferencewhere he promised a larger investigation into the South Mountain Precinct, where they were assigned, to see whether their actions were part of a systemic issue.
“Their actions severely undermine trust in law enforcement and violate the standards we expect from those who serve,” Giordano said of Vasquez and Felix.
He acknowledged that the department had work to do in regaining the public's trust.
The Maricopa County Attorney's Office on Aug. 25 released an initial complaint that showed prosecutors charged the former officers with two counts of kidnapping and aggravated assault and one count of tampering with evidence, conspiracy to hinder prosecution and making threats.
Vasquez was also charged with another more serious Class 3 aggravated assault charge and misdemeanor criminal damage.
Both have since been released from jail after posting bond and are due back in Maricopa County Superior Court on Aug. 28 pending a grand jury indictment.
Republic reporters Rey Covarrubias Jr. and Jose R. Gonzalez contributed to this article.
Reach the reporter Perry Vandell at perry.vandell@arizonarepublic.com or 480-341-9433.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Timely door knock may have exposed violent Phoenix traffic stop
