PASCO — Pasco police on Monday released video showing what happened in the three minutes between an initial traffic stop and the moment a detective shot a wanted suspect hiding on the floor of the backseat.
Santiago Ayala-Pineda was hit once in the abdomen on July 30 after ignoring officers’ orders to show his hands or get out of the car, according to the footage and previously released court documents.
A baby was strapped into a carseat just inches away from Ayala-Pineda but was not hurt.
Ayala-Pineda was shot by Detective Andrew Corral, who’d noticed something next to the suspect’s side and saw a laser light move across his own face before someone shouted “Gun!” and Corral fired.
But before police could get to the wounded Ayala-Pineda or remove his gun, the woman who was driving the Mitsubishi Endeavor got out and unlocked the back door and reached in over the wounded man to free her baby.
One officer tried to pull her away from the open door, but she yelled, “I’m getting my kid!”
After she was out of the way, one officer reached in to remove the Ayala-Pineda’s gun while others were pointing theirs at the suspect at point-blank range.
One detective warned that if he tried to reach for anything again, he would shoot him in the head.
YouTube post
The 9-minute video, released on the Pasco Police Department’s YouTube channel, includes footage from officers’ body-worn cameras and the dashboard camera in Corral’s SUV.
It includes a warning for graphic footage and obscene language.
The officer-involved shooting is being investigated by the regional Special Investigations Unit, or SIU, made up of detectives and supervisors from other agencies.
The team submitted its final report to the Franklin County Prosecutor’s Office on Sept. 29.
Prosecutor Shawn Sant has not announced if he found Corral’s actions were justified.
Internal review
Pasco Police Chief Ken Roske, in introducing the footage, said his agency is doing an internal administrative investigation separate of the SIU.
“At this time we do not draw any conclusion if the officers acted in accordance with department policy or law,” said Roske.
Ayala-Pineda, 33, has been in the Benton County jail since Aug. 7 on $700,000 total bail for two separate cases.
The Kennewick man is charged in Benton County Superior Court with first-degree assault and unlawful possession of a gun for the July 29 incident which led to the next day’s traffic stop.
And he is charged in Franklin County Superior Court with seven felony crimes for the traffic stop on the Road 68 on-ramp at Interstate 182.
The crimes include two counts of first-degree assault for Corral and Sgt. Scott Warren.
Ayala-Pineda was wanted by a U.S. Marshals task force on July 30. He allegedly had been evading law enforcement by using family, friends and other associates for rides and to move around frequently, court documents said.
He was tracked from a Richland home to a Pasco home, where the woman and her infant got into the SUV. Another man was in the front passenger seat.
She started driving toward the Road 68 business district and took a turn onto the highway on-ramp when stopped at 3:05 p.m.
Task force members had asked detectives with the Pasco Street Crimes Unit for help.
Police initially did not see Ayala-Pineda in the back through the Mitsubishi’s tinted windows and almost let the driver leave.
But Warren noticed shoes on the floor and officers quickly surrounded the SUV as they ordered everyone to put their hands up.
The baby is heard crying on the video as the mother shouts to Ayala-Pineda from the front seat, “Dude, you have to get out of my car. You have to get out of my car. Listen to me, get out of my f— car.”
