Early Tuesday morning, a man intentionally rammed his vehicle at a high rate of speed into three Phoenix police officers.
Phoenix police chief Joe Yahner said in a news conference that this heinous act is “not acceptable.”
“I am outraged by this incident,” said Yahner. “Our Phoenix police officers were targeted. We have all heard about officers being targeted and ambushed across this nation. But this happened here. This happened in Phoenix. This happened to your Phoenix police officers.”
“They were victims of an unprovoked, violent, intentional attack,” he said. “These officers could have easily been killed, and I thank God we’re not planning three funerals right now.”
According to investigators, three police officers were standing in the parking lot of a QuickTrip around 2:00 am when the driver plowed into them with his vehicle, hit he a police car and then crashed into the store behind them.
Two officers were taken to a local hospital with serious injuries with the third officer managing to barely escape the vehicle. That third officer did sustain minor injuries while trying to arrest the driver of the vehicle.
One of the officers injured was a sergeant with 18 years of experience. His suffered from a broken leg due to the incident. Another officer with 8 years of experience had a minor injury, while a rookie officer who was working on his first full day on the job suffered a head injury.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as 44 year-old Marc Laquon Payne. He face three charges of attempted first-degree murder, and two counts of aggravated assault, according to Yahner.
Surveillance footage of the incident shows the moment when the three officers were hit by the vehicle.
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