A Tempe police officer chasing a suspect deployed a Grappler to try and stop the vehicle, but records show it was the wrong car.
Records obtained by the ABC15 Investigators show that the vehicle that was mistaken for the suspect’s was the same color, make, model and had the same number of doors.
A Grappler is a device used by police in an attempt to stop a moving vehicle. It deploys from the front of a police car and attaches to the suspect vehicle’s back tire.
The pursuit was in October 2023, but it has taken nearly a year for the Tempe Police Department to release the body camera video through a public records request.
Tempe police were assisting the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for an aggravated assault suspect through the town of Guadalupe.
A report by a detective with Tempe’s Action Response Squad said while approaching the area, the radio became overwhelmed with different officers attempting to give out the location and direction of travel. That’s when the officer located a white Buick Verrano, which matched the description of the suspect vehicle.