ROGERS, Ark. — On Sept. 18, the Arkansas State Police (ASP) released edited dashcam footage of an ASP trooper tasing and eventually shooting a man during a traffic stop on July 27, but many in the community were left with more questions than answers.
Later that day, 5NEWS received the full unedited version of the dashcam footage, along with interviews with the trooper and the man who ASP says was driving over 110 mph.
July 27 footage released
According to ASP, on July 27, Trooper Alexandria Duncan pulled over 26-year-old Angel Zapet-Alvarado around 7:45 p.m. for "traveling at a high rate of speed in heavy traffic."
Once Duncan approached his vehicle, ASP said Zapet-Alvarado resisted and refused to exit the vehicle. In the video, Duncan can be seen approaching the vehicle, immediately opening the door, throwing his keys, and attempting to remove Zapet-Alvarado from the driver's seat. In the dash cam footage, you can see the window going down as Duncan opens the door.
The footage released by ASP depicts a struggle between Duncan standing beside the driver's side with the door open and Zapet-Alvarado inside the vehicle. Duncan is then seen pulling Zapet-Alvarado out of the car and to the ground while tasing him.
Zapet-Alvardo does not speak fluent English, according to his lawyer Aaron Cash with the Herrera Law Group NWA. He is an undocumented man from Guatemala, living in Arkansas.
In the video, Zapet-Alvardo seemed to refuse to get on his stomach, repeatedly asking "Why?"
Then he is seen wrestling with the trooper for a few minutes until another woman, a citizen who had been driving by on the interstate, arrives to assist the trooper.
After being tased multiple times, the video shows Zapet-Alvarado pulling the trooper’s taser from her hands and throwing it into interstate traffic.
Duncan is heard asking the citizen to get the taser from the interstate, which she did. Zapet-Alvardo eventually overtook Duncan, and that's when the bystander jumped on top of him to help.
After regaining control, Duncan ordered the woman to move before she pulled out her service weapon and fired at Zapet-Alvarado, grazing him over his right temple.
Post-Incident Interviews
"Zapet-Alvarado did not use a weapon, strike the trooper, overpower her, or grab her firearm," according to Cash, who also said Duncan told authorities that Zapet-Alvarado put the car into drive during the struggle, despite the video not showing the taillights change after the car is parked.
"The reverse lights are visible when he initially puts the car in park, and they never come on again," Cash said.
In an audio interview conducted by state police with Duncan three days after the altercation, there's an effort to understand whether Zapet-Alvarado did indeed try to put his car in drive, causing Duncan to begin tasing him.
In Duncan's interview, after describing in detail the entire altercation, she's asked by ASP investigators when she realized the car wasn't in park. She said it was when Zapet-Alvarado "grabbed the shifter" in the immediate moments after she walked up to his vehicle.
"I don't remember if it was in neutral or I don't remember exactly what position it was at, but it had moved. It was actively moving," Duncan said. "It was not in the park position. I know because I shoved it back up. I put it in park, but I don't know at what point it came out of park."
Based on the car's taillights in the footage, there is no indication of the car changing gears before Duncan starts tasing Zapet-Alvarado for the first time, while he's still in the driver's seat.
Col. Mike Hagar, director of the Arkansas Department of Public Safety, said Zapet-Alvarado had a blood alcohol level of twice the legal limit, and ASP reported he had cannabinoids in his system.
According to a translated interview with Zapet-Alvarado at the hospital with police, he claimed he'd only had a cup of beer after work. He claimed before the traffic stop, he was sitting in his car watching a movie on his phone before he started heading home.
When asked what he did when Duncan opened his car door, his answer (translated from Spanish to English), was "nothing. Try to talk to her. Then she looked like she thought I was going to attack her. Then she started tasing me."
In the interview, Zapet-Alvarado said he'd only been in the area for a few months and came from California. He said he had a newborn at home with his wife. He said he'd wished there had been a warning given.
"He saw it as an attack that he was trying to get home to his wife and his kids ... he felt that in that moment, he was being attacked and he needed to defend himself. One way or another he was going to go home," Zapet-Alvarado's translator said.
The interviewer asked him why he decided to hit Duncan. "She was attacking me. What could I do? In the moment, I was enraged," Zapet-Alvarado said.
Zapet-Alvarado was transported to a nearby hospital for his injuries. He was released and transported to the Benton County Jail, state police said.
Arkansas State Police case summary:
Remaining Questions:
Benton County Prosecutor Joshua Robinson found Duncan's use of deadly force "consistent with Arkansas law."
On Sept. 18, ASP released an edited version of the dashcam footage that cut out about 13 minutes between the end of the struggle and Zapet-Alvarado being loaded onto a gurney.
Later that day, the full unedited video was sent, showing Duncan throwing her hat onto the front of the car, blocking the dashcam's view of Zapet-Alvarado. The hat continues to block a section of the camera for the rest of the footage. The full video can be found here.
ASP does not use bodycams, but bodycam footage from the Rogers Police Department (RPD) was made available to 5NEWS.
Robinson sent a letter explaining his decision to not pursue charges against Duncan, where he said his ethical responsibilities prevent him from filing a criminal charge "unless there is a reasonable likelihood of conviction."
According to documentation provided to 5NEWS, Duncan used her taser 13 times during the traffic stop, with a total use time of over 40 seconds. It has been confirmed that she was not placed on any administrative leave after the incident. We reached out to ASP with questions regarding protocols in these situations, but they declined an interview.
ASP did send a statement that said their Criminal Investigation Division investigates all uses of force by troopers, and no outside agency assisted with this investigation. Duncan stated she underwent taser training a few months before the incident, but no certification was made available to 5NEWS.
When asked about the rules for asking for — and accepting assistance from — citizens, Hagar said "We're never going to direct a civilian to put themselves in harm's way again. That's our job, to put ourselves between harm and the citizens. But in a situation like this, she saw someone in need, and she stopped to help. She put herself in that situation."
Hagar stands by Duncan's actions.
"We now know that all of her instincts were correct," Hagar said. "I can see where someone may question the tactics that were used, but for any police officer or state trooper that watched that video, and they take in the totality of the circumstances, it's completely understandable to them why she did what she did."
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