Two Phoenix police officers arrested and fired after violent, unreported
traffic stop
[August 24, 2026]
PHOENIX (AP) — Two Phoenix police officers were fired and arrested after
an unreported traffic stop in which they assaulted a man and woman and
shocked them with a Taser, the police chief said.
Officers Antonio Felix and Luis Vasquez were arrested on charges
including aggravated assault and kidnapping, police chief Matt Giordano
said at a news conference Saturday.
“Detectives have confirmed that the two former officers physically
assaulted both the man and woman during the traffic stop,” Giordano
said. “The investigation also shows that a Taser was used on the victims
during the stop.”
The officers did not report the Aug. 5 traffic stop and did not activate
their body-worn cameras, police said.
“There is no video evidence, but we established what we believe is
probable cause that these crimes were committed,” Giordano said, adding
there was no indication that the officers knew the victims.
Dave Evans, a spokesperson for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office,
said Sunday that Vasquez had been released from custody while Felix
remained incarcerated at the Lower Buckeye Jail in Phoenix.
Attempts by The Associated Press to determine who their defense
attorneys were to request comment were unsuccessful.
During the late-night traffic stop in Phoenix, the male driver and woman
passenger reported that the officers smashed the car window, according
to a statement from Phoenix police. Vasquez punched the man and
threatened to shoot him, while the woman was removed from the vehicle
and handcuffed.
The man managed to drive away and abandoned the car in neighboring
Tempe, while the woman was released at the scene, the statement said.
A police officer in neighboring Tempe who responded to the abandoned car
asked over dispatch whether it had fled from any neighboring police
agencies and was told it had not, according to a Tempe police report.
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Phoenix Police Department vehicles block off a street in Phoenix,
May 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File
The Tempe officer called the car's registered owner, the mother of
the male driver, and through her was able to connect with the woman
passenger and eventually the male driver. The woman passenger told
the officer that both of them had been shocked with a Taser, while
the man later told the officer that he had been punched in the face
multiple times and that they had repeatedly asked why they had been
stopped.
The Tempe officer wrote in the report that he believed they were
victims of an attempted carjacking by people impersonating police
officers.
Giordano, the Phoenix police chief, said he had a similar reaction
when he initially learned of the incident as it was “so far outside
the bounds of our policies.” But when detectives started looking
into it, they realized Phoenix officers might be involved and
transitioned the case to a special investigations detail, he said.
“That's when they started putting evidence together, including the
automatic vehicle locator that did put a vehicle at that location
about the time that the victims reported it occurred," Giordano
said, referring to the location technology in city vehicles.
Vasquez and Felix had served eight and nine years with Phoenix
police, respectively. Giordano, without elaborating, said both had
previously violated department policy but that it was “nothing of
this nature.”
The Phoenix department's investigation and audit are ongoing. The
officers have a scheduled court date on Friday.
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