Manuel Oscar Longoria, 40

Eloy, Arizona
January 14, 2014

Agencies: Pinal County Sheriff's Office Arizona | Eloy Police Department Arizona

Cause of death: Shooting


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Last updated: almost 6 years ago

Overview

The Arizona Attorney General's Office on Friday cleared the deputy of criminal wrongdoing.

On Jan. 14, Manuel Longoria, 40, of Mesa led Eloy police and Pinal County deputies on a 40 minute chase through Eloy.

The vehicle Longoria was driving was reported stolen in Casa Grande, said Pinal County Sheriff's Office spokesman Tim Gaffney.

The Eloy Police Department had contacted PCSO to join the car chase. Stop sticks were used as authorities tried to stop the vehicle and end the pursuit. 

Authorities received information that Longoria was armed and that he "wouldn't be taken alive," Gaffney said.

Authorities said Longoria rammed a patrol vehicle while trying to get away.

Deputies said they ordered Longoria to the ground and he wouldn't obey.

When Longoria made a sudden move to reach into the vehicle, deputies said they fired.

"A deputy felt the suspect was reaching for the gun he reportedly had, so he then fired two rounds from his department issued patrol rifle," Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said.  

Halfway through her 11-page order granting summary judgment in favor of Rankin, Pinal County, and Rankin's boss, Sheriff Paul Babeu, Bolton succinctly writes:

"Mr. Longoria then turns with his hands above his head and is shot twice."

That is, indeed, what viewers saw in cell-phone video of the incident, captured by a resident, as Eloy police incapacitated the car Longoria had been driving, after pursuing him on a low-speed chase through the town on January 12, 2014.


 

Legal Action

June 2014 Officers cleared

March 2016 lawsuit fails

 March 2016 lawyer appeal to Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.