Mesa officer injured after patrol car was struck by suspected DUI driver
Joaquin Santiago Orozco (Mesa Police Department)
MESA, Ariz. - A 23-year-old man has been arrested in Mesa after he reportedly struck a patrol car with two officers inside on Thursday night - and police say he was found trying to hide in the passenger seat of someone else's vehicle.
The incident began at around 11 p.m. on Nov. 24 after two Mesa officers tried to pull over a Chrysler 300 near Hobson and Broadway Road for an unspecified "civil traffic offense."
Police say the driver, identified as Joaquin Santiago Orozco, refused to stop and fled until officers eventually lost sight of him.
The officers stayed in the area and continued their patrol. As they started driving down Franklin Avenue, just south of the initial stop, Orozco reportedly reappeared and struck their police car as he was turning right.
The car then proceeded to crash into an empty parked vehicle before attempting to reverse away.
The two officers got out of their car and started shooting at the suspect as his car backed out, but the suspect vehicle successfully fled down Franklin Avenue.
Both police officers are said to be okay, but one of them had to be taken to the hospital because of a head injury he sustained during the collision.
Meanwhile, authorities in the area later found the suspect's car unoccupied near 7th Drive and Mesa. It had crashed into another parked vehicle.
Suspect located
Another Mesa police officer reportedly made contact with a car that had been stopped near 8th Avenue and Center Street.
"A shirtless man, with a cut on his face, was sitting on the lap of the front seat passenger," police said in a statement.
As the officer started trying to talk to the people inside the car, the shirtless man - Orozco - got out and ran away on foot.
Eventually, Orozco was taken into custody and identified as the suspect involved in the shooting incident from earlier.
A woman who had been in the car with Orozco was not injured, and the suspect himself had not been seriously hurt. He had not been struck when officers opened fire at him.
The 23-year-old has been booked into jail on numerous charges, including aggravated assault, aggravated DUI, endangerment, unlawful flight from law enforcement, and failure to remain at the scene of a crash.