MESA, Arizona -- Two Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies and one Mesa police officer were injured after a vehicle plowed into them at a gas station early Thursday morning.
Three deputies and three officers were discussing a joint investigation in the parking lot of a Circle K located at 401 South Ellsworth Road and had arrived in fully marked patrol vehicles and were standing just outside of them, according to a news release.
At approximately 4:15 a.m., a white 1996 Buick Century driving north on Ellsworth Road turned into the Circle K parking lot at a high rate of speed and accelerated, colliding with the rear of one of the Mesa police SUVs and striking two of the deputies and one of the Mesa officers.
One deputy and one officer were hit so hard they rolled onto the hood of the Buick, while a second deputy was struck in the leg.
The collision pushed the Mesa police cruiser 15 feet forward.
The uninjured officers and deputy radioed for assistance and gave commands to the driver to exit the vehicle at gunpoint. The driver did not respond to the commands, forcing officers to break the window of the vehicle and extracted the driver who was placed into handcuffs.
The suspect -- 37-year old Carlos Albert Diaz -- was driving on a suspended license, failed a field sobriety test, and admitted to using illegal drugs.
Both deputies and the police officer were transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries and were later released after treatment.
