Deputy Jose Rivera and his deputy trainee were responding to a call concerning an altercation at a Deltona home, Chitwood said as he introduced the footage Tuesday. A woman had called 9-1-1 to say her son—later identified as Luis Diaz Polanco—had become violent with a visitor, damaging her car.
In the footage, Rivera and the trainee are seen approaching Polanco's home. They tried to talk to Polanco outside of the house, but he immediately retreated inside.
Rivera then tapped on a window to get Polanco's attention. Moments later, Polanco emerged from the house and opened fire with a hand gun.
Rivera was struck in the leg and the shoulder. The shoulder wound was caused when a round struck and ricocheted off his chest-mounted body camera.
The edited footage then shows fellow deputies treating the wounded Rivera, who was now standing behind a cruiser. Blood can be seen running down his right arm as a deputy tries to apply a tourniquet.
The remaining footage shows deputies taking Polanco into custody as he knelt on the ground. Chitwood said Polanco allegedly told investigators that he had had a bad day and that if he hadn't run out of ammunition, he would have killed the deputies.
According to Chitwood, Polanco fired 12 rounds at the deputies. The sheriff said a trail of shell casings indicates that Polanco followed the deputies down the driveway, firing at them.
Rivera was rushed to the hospital, where he was stabilized before being airlifted to a Daytona Beach facility. Chitwood said Rivera was recovering and was expected to be released Wednesday.
"The easy part's going to be the physical wounds. They're going to heal. But all of us on the command staff have been in touch with but all of us on the command staff have been in touch with every one of those deputies that were out there. … (E)everybody is having a hard time with this, and what our job is. Our job is to get them over the hump.
Because Rivera's body camera was struck, the sheriff's office couldn't share any footage from his perspective, Chitwood said. He added that Axon was working on trying to recover any of that video.
Polanco faces two counts of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer.
"What those deputies did was absolutely outstanding," Chitwood said. "It was bravery, there was restraint involved, they did everything you could ever ask a law enforcement professional to do."
