hello everyone i'm detective brandi george with the mesa police department this critical incident community briefing will provide you with information about an officer-involved shooting that occurred here in mesa you are about to see relevant video footage and learn about evidence and police procedures related to this case so you can better understand what happened based on what we know right now mesa police department conducts thorough use of force investigations typically investigators interview multiple witnesses view numerous hours of video footage and analyze a significant amount of forensic evidence these investigations take time to complete which means things could change as additional evidence is collected analyzed and reviewed this video will not draw any conclusions about whether these officers acted consistent with our policy until all the facts are known and the investigation is complete in this video we will be sharing our officers body-worn camera videos as well as 9-1-1 calls and any other surveillance video obtained as part of this investigation we do want to warn you anytime a police officer uses force the images and information can be graphic disturbing and difficult to watch and the video may contain strong language viewer discretion is strongly advised especially for young children and sensitive viewers on september 5th 2021 mesa police officers responded to a call that someone was passed out behind the wheel of a parked white truck and the truck had been running for an extended period of time police department how may i help you yes i reside at 8 south westwood and there's been someone parked in a white dodge ram out here almost all day with the engine running and i just took out my dogs out for a walk and there's someone slumped over the driver's seat officers arrived at an apartment complex at 839 southwestwood and found the white dodge ram truck with its engine still running parked in a covered spot here's video of the first officer's body worn camera as they arrived on scene so we're gonna have two subjects one's a male in the driver's seat another one's a female they're both slumped over when officers approached the truck they could see a young man slouched over the driver's seat and a young female passed out in the passenger seat both were unresponsive as officers tried to get their attention the truck doors were locked so officers knocked on the driver's side window the man in the driver's seat now identified as diego varela woke up looked at the officers shook his passenger awake and then put his truck in reverse backing into a patrol vehicle diego then put the vehicle in drive drove over a curb and onto the grass through the retention basin nearby here's body worn camera video as diego tried to get away center console i think it's ready they're both unlocked it's locked hey mesa please open the door bro open the door open the door i'm gonna break the window [ __ ] door bro hey here is video from a second officer's viewpoint [Music] two officers began running after the truck while a third officer got into his vehicle and followed the truck through the basin [Music] [Applause] [Applause] a block wall created a barrier for the truck an officer began to approach the driver as the third officer got out of his vehicle to assist diego turned the truck around and began driving toward the officers diego drove toward the officer's tahoe and hit the front corner and that's when the officer fired his duty weapon here's body worn video from that officer 12 he's driving through the green belt on the south side 12 998 after striking the officer's vehicle diego drove off onto westwood avenue early the next morning diego's truck the white ram truck was spotted at alma school in emerald officers were able to take diego varela and his passenger melissa hidalgo into custody without further incident diego varela is charged with two counts of aggravated assault on law enforcement three counts of endangerment and one count of leaving the scene of a vehicle collision melissa was booked on outstanding warrants and illegal drug possession charges the officer involved in this incident has one year on with the mesa police department and this is his first officer-involved shooting all the information evidenced in this case will be presented to the maricopa county attorney's office for review thank you for taking the time to watch this critical incident community briefing