A man driving with a 5-year-old child was shot and killed by Phoenix cops last night, becoming the subject of Phoenix Police Department's third officer-involved shooting in the past three days.
According to Phoenix police Sergeant Trent Crump, the man -- whose name hasn't been released -- was fatally shot after trying to ram a pair of police officers with his car.
See also:
-Phoenix Cop Shot Six Times; Chief Says He's "Extremely Lucky" to Be Alive
-Phoenix PD Fatally Shoots Man Who Stole BB Gun From Walmart
According to PPD, officers tried to pull over the man around 11:30 yesterday on suspicion that he was impaired.
The man didn't pull over and instead drove "in a reckless manner" toward officers who had maneuvered their vehicles near an entrance to Interstate 17 to block him from moving.
The chase continued to the 2900 block of West Madison Street, which police believe is the man's residence. After colliding with a brick wall along the driveway, Crump says the man threw the car in reverse, toward officers and their vehicles.
At that point, one officer fired at the man. After hitting a police SUV, the man then drove at another officer, at which point another cop shot at the driver and hit him.
The man died at the scene, and after all this, police found out that there was a 5-year-old kid in the passenger seat of the car the whole time. Crump says the child wasn't injured.
As we previously mentioned, this is the third officer-involved shooting in three days for the Phoenix Police Department.
On Sunday, Officer Pete Bennett was shot six times, allegedly by 28-year-old Brandon McCabe.
Police Chief Daniel Garcia said Bennett approached McCabe was engaging in "suspicious activity" while riding a bike near 21st and Georgia avenues.
McCabe ended up running from Bennett, who chased McCabe for a bit before McCabe fell over. At that point, McCabe pulled out a handgun and started shooting at Bennett, Garcia said.
Three rounds went into Bennett's body -- one in the cheek, one in the thigh, and one in the arm -- while two were stopped by Bennett's bulletproof vest, and another was stopped by index cards Bennett was carrying in his chest pocket.
Bennett also shot back, and hit McCabe at least two times.
The day before that, on Saturday, 39-year-old Chuckie Stowers was shot and killed by Phoenix Police Department officers after pointing a BB gun -- which Stowers allegedly was in the process of stealing from a Walmart store -- at cops.
A Walmart security worker called police on Saturday afternoon, reporting that he'd just watched Stowers on a store camera using a 4- or 5-inch blade to take a BB gun out of its packaging.
After police responded to the store, and watched that security footage, officers met Stowers at one of the store's entrance/exit doors.
Police said that officer tried to approach Stowers, and yelled commands at him to stop, show his hands, and put his hands on his head. Police said Stowers "made several furtive movements with his hands toward the front of his waistband" before he pulled out a black pistol, and pointed it at police officers.
Multiple officers fired at Stowers, who later died at St. Joe's Hospital. Police confirmed to New Times that the pistol Stowers pointed at officers was the BB gun he'd just stolen from the store.
