Police in Lubbock, Texas, have just released the intense bodycam footage from the moment when a routine police call last Wednesday nearly turned into a case of vehicular manslaughter.
The clip shows 32-year-old Carlos Martinez, who had just been evicted from his apartment and had been accused of arguing with another resident, sitting in his car as the officer examines his expired ID. A few moments later, the cop asks Martinez to step out of the vehicle.
Martinez momentarily hesitates before turning on the ignition and attempting to drive away. He is stopped by a police officer who tackles and tazes him, but Martinez still manages to throw the vehicle in reverse.
Another angle shows how close three police officers came to being run down by the out-of-control vehicle. They barely manage to escape – one of them having narrowly rescued a child who was sitting in the front passenger seat – before getting crushed.
Officers then began firing at Martinez, who collided with a police cruiser before driving away from the scene. His vehicle was eventually found abandoned in an alleyway, but it wasn’t until Friday morning that Martinez was tracked down and arrested.
First responders decided to hospitalize Officer Donovan Powell for treatment of injuries that they feared were severe, but he was released from the hospital on Thursday evening. Officers Mark Ellison and Saul Garay were also treated for moderate and minor injuries, respectively.
