Arizona officials have charged a Phoenix man on three counts of attempted first-degree murder after the suspect allegedly ran over three police officers at a gas station early Tuesday morning.
“Our Phoenix police officers were targeted,” Phoenix police chief Joe Yahner said in a press conference later in the day.
The suspect, 44-year-old Marc LaQuon Payne, appears to have hit the gas before speeding into three cops who had stopped at the QuikTrip near Camelback Road and Interstate 17 following a police call.
Surveillance video shows Payne had stopped at one of the gas pumps then reversed his vehicle into a parking spot facing the officers. He turned off the car’s headlights and sat for a few minutes before turning on the engine and making a full-throttle charge at the men.
The car’s impact threw one officer into the air and through the store’s glass windows. Another officer appears to have been able to escape serious harm while the third was run over. Payne’s car went in to the QuikStop and the suspect attempted to flee the scene before witnesses and one of the officers chased him down and subdued him.
Two of the officers included a 41-year-old sergeant and a 33-year-old officer, whose first shift was Tuesday. All of the men were taken to the hospital and received treatment for their injuries and are expected to survive.
Payne will also face two counts of aggravated assault for how close he came to wounding two associates inside the store.
