Man shot after he assaulted officer in Phoenix, police say

PHOENIX — A man is dead after a traffic stop led to a shooting involving a Phoenix police officer, the Phoenix Police Department said.

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Around 2:30 p.m., a patrol officer assigned to the Desert Horizon Precinct saw a man driving a car on Cactus Road, near 25th Street, who “violated a traffic law,” police said in a news release. The news release did not say what law was violated. The officer conducted a traffic stop and pulled the driver over.

Before the officer could park his patrol car, the man got out of his vehicle and began arguing with the officer, police said. According to the news release, the officer requested the man’s driver’s license and “attempted to explain the reason for the stop.” The man continued to argue with the officer.

“The driver escalated his verbal aggression toward the officer and began to physically assault him,” the news release said.

According to police, a witness stopped to help the officer during the fight and tried to pull the man away. The man attempted to grab the officer’s gun from his holster, police said.

The officer took his gun out of the holster and fired one round at the man, hitting him in the lower half of his body. When additional officers got to the area, they applied a tourniquet to the man before Phoenix Fire arrived. The man was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

The officer involved was also taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries; police said he has since been released. 

Cactus Road from 24th Street to 30th Street will be closed to both east and westbound traffic for multiple hours while police investigate. 

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