Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Aug 23

2 Phoenix Officers Fired, Arrested Over Aug. 5 Traffic Stop as Kidnapping Charges Mount

Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Aug 23

2 Phoenix Officers Fired, Arrested Over Aug. 5 Traffic Stop as Kidnapping Charges Mount

Q: What happened to the victims' car between the brutal, unrecorded traffic stop and its mysterious discovery in another city hours later?

What happened to the car is only partly established. The clearest account from police reports is that after the alleged assault, the male victim got back into the Dodge Charger and drove away from the stop. He later abandoned it in Tempe, near Priest Drive and Baseline Road, after it overheated or became disabled. Tempe police found it there shortly before 1 a.m. on Aug. 6. What remains unexplained is the gap between the stop in south Phoenix and the car’s discovery in another city. Investigators have not publicly detailed the route, timing, or condition of the vehicle during those hours, and Phoenix police have not said whether the car was further damaged during the stop beyond the reported broken window and bumper contact. The available reporting does not indicate that the officers took the car or transported it themselves. Instead, the evidence so far points to the driver fleeing in it after being beaten and threatened, then leaving it behind when it could no longer continue. That unresolved timeline is part of why the case drew such scrutiny. Tempe officers initially suspected the couple may have encountered police impostors or been victims of a carjacking, because the abandoned car and the victims’ account did not match any recorded Phoenix police stop. Investigators are still working to fill in those missing details.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Aug 23

Two Phoenix officers were fired and arrested Saturday after investigators said they beat a couple, used a Taser on them and then failed to report the Aug. 5 traffic stop.
Charges include kidnapping, aggravated assault and aggravated robbery, with Chief Matthew Giordano saying the officers were on duty but neither activated a body camera, leaving no video of the encounter.
At about 11:30 p.m. in south Phoenix, the officers stopped the couple for reasons still unknown, and police said there is no indication the officers previously knew the victims.
The case appeared so aberrant that Tempe police, after finding the couple's abandoned Dodge Charger, initially suspected the assailants were impersonating Phoenix officers.