A female police officer dubbed ‘Robocop’ by her colleagues
after she was shot in the face before chasing and catching the suspects,
has said she never considered giving up. Ann Carrizales, a former
Marine and boxer from Stafford, Texas, said she was determined to stay
because shooting her was ‘not allowed’ – especially as she had two
children at home.
‘It wasn’t an option for me to give up,’ she explained to the Today show.
‘I am a mom and they shot me and they were absolutely not
going to get away with that, because I will do everything I can to come
home to my children every day.’
Carrizales had been on a routine traffic stop in Stafford at
3am on Saturday when she approached the car and felt something wasn’t
right. Within seconds, a passenger in the front began shooting.
She was struck twice at blank-point range – once in the cheek
and once in the chest, but the second bullet was stopped by her
bullet-proof vest. ’Her ballistic vest stopped almost all the shot to
the chest, some minor injuries there,’ police spokesman Dustin Claborn
said. ’Without a doubt, it saved her life. It just illustrates how
quickly something can go bad for any officer at any time.’
The car sped off and she fired, smashing the back window.
She ran back to her car, called for backup and followed in hot pursuit for 20 miles.
‘I knew that it was what I needed to do, to catch these
guys,’ she said. ‘You can’t shoot me and drive away: It’s not
allowed.’ Officers from a neighboring police department helped apprehend
the alleged gunman, Sergio Francisco Rodriguez, after he was cornered
in an apartment complex.
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