AGUANGA, California -- The Riverside County Sheriff's Department released body camera video Wednesday from the fatal deputy-involved shooting of an vehicle theft suspect last month.
Rico Robles was killed in the confrontation with deputies on Tule Peak Road as he attempted to evade deputies following a pursuit the morning of April 1, according to The Press-Enterprise.
“Whenever we have a deputy-involved shooting, multiple investigations are automatically launched. We take use of force seriously, and we make every effort to de-escalate these situations whenever possible," Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said in an introduction to the footage.
Officials said that Robles and another man stole a pickup truck with a trailer attached in Temecula and ended up in a residential area near Via Puerta and La Serena Way. A sheriff’s community services officer spotted the truck and alerted dispatchers, who directed deputies to the location.
According to officials, the pickup truck traveled at speeds ranging from 50 to 70 mph, steering into opposing traffic lanes several times before turning onto a dirt road where the pursuit continued.
Robles eventually stopped because he was stuck in the mud. Deputy Zabrowski and Deputy Hansen exited their patrol vehicles as another deputy arrived on the scene.
“Driver, turn off the car and show us your hands,” Zabrowski can be heard shouting.
Zabrowski then fired two shots in the direction of the cab of the pickup truck and and Hansen fired a single shot, as Robles and the other man jumped out and fled. As the deputies start toward the woods to look for the suspects, Zabrowski says "I thought they were going to ram me with the trailer."
Robles had been struck by the gunfire and his body was found two days later, roughly 500 feet of where he was shot. The other man’s location remains unknown.
Zabrowski and Hansen were placed on paid administrative and the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office will review the shooting.
