Bodycam Video Shows Bloody, Bullet-Filled End to 2019 Manhunt

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The morning after police filled his body with lead, officers watched the tattooed suspect in a west Valley hospital bed closely, worried he would launch another one of his famous escapes.

But after four hectic, headline-making days evading police, culminating in a late-afternoon hail of bullets and a mauling by a K9 officer on a rural county property in Buckeye, 35-year-old Christopher Mendoza was only somewhat conscious and in no condition to pull any tricks.

A doctor came into the room to check on his patients' multiple wounds. As he lifted Mendoza's head, the officers stationed in the room saw a bullet fragment fall from the suspect's skull. One of the officer's retrieved the fragment and put it in a container for the evidence locker.

It was one of at least eight bullets that hit Mendoza during the violent takedown and arrest in December 2019 that ended the high-profile manhunt for him.

His mother, Jodi Mendoza, now claims that her son was intentionally brutalized by police, who she theorizes were angry he had given them the slip repeatedly.

"There was no need to shoot him that many times," she said. Siccing a police dog on him after he was shot and stomping on his chest while he was badly wounded "was absolutely uncalled for."

Bodycam video of the December 23, 2019, incident was provided by Jodi Mendoza and has not yet been made available by police agencies to the news media. It shows that a gauntlet of officers shot at Mendoza repeatedly with rifles and handguns as he drove a stolen truck toward one of the officers who had him surrounded. When he pulled his blood-drenched body out of a truck window and slumped to the ground, police directed a K9 to attack him when he wouldn't show that his hands were empty. Mendoza continued to resist feebly while officers tried to handcuff him, causing one officer to stomp on his chest.

Jodi Mendoza also provided Phoenix New Times with several police reports on the case that had been obtained by a lawyer previously hired by the family. She said she hoped to inform the public about her son's treatment and that she wished to find a lawyer who would help her family sue the police in federal court. They already missed the deadlines to sue in state court, she said.

Whether the family has a legitimate grievance is another story. But as the nation continues to examine police violence, some see even the shooting of a violent criminal as an avoidable tragedy.

New Times compiled the most relevant bodycam footage from officers at the scene for the video embedded in this article. (Warning: Parts of the video are violent and graphic.) The video shows that heavy force was used against Mendoza at the Buckeye property, and that it's possible Mendoza was not lying when he claimed he had lost the use of his arms after being shot. He had at least eight to 10 gunshot wounds, according to one officer's count at the scene.

Mendoza apparently didn't use a gun he had on him during his final confrontation with police. But as the video also shows, after four days of being hunted for his alleged reckless and illegal possession of a firearm, he was hell-bent on not giving up.

The alleged crime that led to the manhunt and shooting occurred about 1:30 a.m. on December 20, 2019, when Mendoza went to the Walmart at 1100 North Estrella Parkway with a gun to find his girlfriend, who he had reportedly threatened to kill. One Walmart employee said that Mendoza said he was going to "start shooting." Extensive police reports by Buckeye and Goodyear police that Jodi Mendoza gave to New Times explain in detail what happened over the next few days.

An officer who was sent to help the woman and find Mendoza spotted him with a gun at the store, but Mendoza ran from him, causing the Walmart to be evacuated. His girlfriend, Natalie Paredes, was uncooperative with police.