The GinBlog

Carjacked At Gunpoint By A Cop Killer - What Would You Do? Run? Fight? Obey? The Story Of A Man Who Had To Make That Decision

November 28th, 2007 | by Ginnie | (Visited 19,557 times)

I’m one of those people who like to constantly stay aware of their surroundings. Perhaps too many ninja movies get me thinking I’m much more badass than I really am. And yet, I often make the same mistakes Juan Valdez (and not the Columbian coffee guy) did when he was carjacked less than a mile away from where I work.

Radio up, windows down. It’s cool outside and perfect for such driving. Read his tale and put yourself in his seat. Buckled in, confined in a tight space, with a man holding a lethal weapon less than an inch from your body.

The man who had forced his way into Valdez’s car and ordered him to drive, the man who had said he had just robbed someone and needed to get away, the man sitting right next to him was really a cop killer.

He had gunned down Phoenix police Officer Nick Erfle before commandeering a car. The news report on the radio said so.

“This man might kill me,” Valdez thought.

But the man, Erik Jovani Martinez, 22, reassured him.

I’m a few months away from owning my first firearm and I plan to take full advantage of the Arizona laws and get a CCW (or concealed carry) permit. But even then, with a gun under my seat, would I have time, the clear mind, or the judgment to use it without being outdrawn? Not likely.

“Don’t be scared,” Martinez said. “I won’t kill you. You’re going to see your family today.”

…

It was Sept. 18, and Valdez, a mechanic, had dropped his daughter off at school and was headed to work.

Nearby, Erfle and his partner, Officer Rob Rodarme, had stopped Martinez and two women for jaywalking. Officers became suspicious about the man when the name he gave them came back with an arrest warrant. As the officers tried to arrest Martinez, he pulled a gun, shot Erfle twice in the head and fled.

By that time, Valdez was stopped at a red light at 24th Street and Thomas Road. He had the music blaring and the passenger side window partly rolled down. He didn’t see Martinez running toward him, didn’t see him until he reached into the window to unlock the door.

“Open or I’ll shoot!” Martinez yelled.

I’m not the only one that does this.. I drive a long distance to work and see it every day. Many others enjoy music and a cool breeze. I do lock the doors, but so did Valdez. What do you do? Would you unlock it? Speed off and duck down hoping you don’t get shot?

Many times criminals are as scared as their victims, they just have the upper hand of force. Sometimes a cashier fights back and a robber flees. If you drove away, do you think the gunman would still shoot? Would he instead run off and try another car?

Valdez thought the man was trying to assault him or rob him.

“I have money,” Valdez told the man. “Here are the keys. Leave me.”

But the man jumped inside.

“I can’t leave you,” Martinez told Valdez. “I need you to drive.”

Valdez said that he asked the man why he was running and that Martinez told him he had robbed somebody. Valdez didn’t know it was the police who were chasing Martinez.

…

The man ordered him onto the freeway, then west on Glendale Avenue. Valdez did as he was told.

At this point he was less than 500 feet from my office window. We had heard the police helicopters but didn’t know what was going on quite yet.

I’ve watched way too much TV for my own good. I’d be thinking, “I have an airbag.. but crap.. this is a new car.. so does he. Front, side airbags, they’re all over”. So crashing in hopes to injure him is out the window. But was he serious? Would he not shoot me if I did what he said? Police were looking for him already. How long would it be before I became a true hostage?

Kind of reminds me of the Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise movie, “Collateral”.

“I thought any moment he could shoot me,” Valdez said. “He had the gun at my side. Go this way, that way. I asked him, ‘Where do you want to go?’ I thought I could drop him off.”

Martinez said he was homeless and told him to drive around a neighborhood and not to look nervous. He pulled the slide back on his gun.

Martinez wanted water. Valdez didn’t have any and suggested they stop at a convenience store. Martinez said they couldn’t stop. He seemed nervous.

He kept asking Valdez if anyone was following them. Valdez said he didn’t see anyone.

“He pulled the slide back”. This is where fight or flight would be banging against the sides of your head. I’d be thinking of where the gun was pointed. At my midsection? I’d risk liver, kidney, stomach, intestines. If the bullet didn’t penetrate it could bounce around and get my spine, heart, and more. How many inches from my back and belly is he? Could I make a swift move, allow him to fire safely missing me, and then try and wrangle the gun away somehow?

I’d still be buckled up. The one time when a seatbelt could be the reason you died.

Then, Martinez spotted the police helicopter overhead and switched on the radio. The story was about a “police incident” near 24th Street and Thomas Road. A police officer shot.

Martinez flipped it off. Valdez figured out the rest. He thought about jumping from the car, but his seatbelt was on and he couldn’t undo it quickly enough.

Wow, I guess it’s a pretty common thought. If you factored in unbuckling, slipping out of the belt, while also deterring gunfire, things get too complicated. You’re taking levels beyond the comfort zone.

Police boxed in the car. They yelled at Martinez to give up.

“He put the gun to my head,” Valdez said. He could feel the muzzle pushed against his skin.

Twice more police yelled.

Martinez turned toward an officer standing outside the rear passenger window.

“I’ll kill him!” Martinez yelled.

Ok, it’s next to my head now. There are a few ways I could imagine dealing with this that give me more flexibility. His arm is at an uncomfortable angle giving me more power to move freely as my head can swivel better than my torso can. Additionally there’s less resistance if I can move before he shoots. The cops are there and could likely take him out if I removed the threat.

But could I do it in time? Is he even going to fire?

Officer Mark Geske fired once through the open window.

Geske, a member of the Special Assignments Unit, would later tell investigators he knew the suspect had already killed an officer. He thought the man was going to shoot the hostage and then him.

Geske decided he had to fire downward so the hostage wouldn’t be hurt.

He was about 4 feet away when he saw the tip of the suspect’s gun go down and pulled his trigger.

“My face was turned when they shot him. I didn’t see the officer that shot him,” Valdez said. “I turned and saw his neck bleeding.”

Martinez was dead.

Wow.. straight out of a movie. I would have been wrong here because I would have been nearly certain that police wouldn’t act so strongly. But still, perhaps I’m more of a thinker than I need to be. But as the officer I’d be thinking if the glass would affect the trajectory of the bullet? Offering resistance at an angle undesirable to his target?

It’s doubtful what I’m thinking in my chair right now is what was going through the officer’s head, but it still seems like so much could have gone wrong.

Valdez could hug his wife.

“Thank God,” Valdez said. “I’m alive. It’s a blessing.”

Still, he said, “this has changed my life; I have nightmares about it. I’m more nervous.”

Valdez still fears for his safety. Martinez was an illegal immigrant and a gang member.

For two days, Valdez wouldn’t come out of the house.

His wife said she now sleeps with a light on at night, afraid that in the darkness she might see Martinez’s face. Sometimes, her husband wakes up screaming, but he won’t talk about the dreams.

It’s hard, Valdez said, but he tries to think of other things.

They gave the car to a friend. Valdez won’t drive anymore unless he absolutely has to.

But two people died that day, and Valdez easily could have been the third. He knows this.

“I’m a lucky person,” he said. “God doesn’t want me yet.”

(source: Arizona Republic)

As a father, I have something to lose, and that makes me very thoughtful of what I’d do in a similar situation. I’d probably judge the carjacker by his appearance. Bandanna? Tattoos? If I thought he was a gang member and especially if I already knew he just killed a cop, I’d think I was small fries to him.

Here’s a picture of the carjacker:

And one of the victim:

But in the end it worked out. Talk about a roll of the dice here. I heard other traumatic stories of encounters with other types of criminals and how the post traumatic stress was nearly unbearable by the victims. I remember once living at a house, I’d routinely hear noises out my window and with a door leading directly to my room and on the side of the house, it would be an ideal entry for a home invasion.

After an “auto-on” motion-sensor floodlight was installed I felt a little better, but it didn’t help when it would go off at night for no reason. Cats, perhaps. Looking back, though I’m technically a skeptic, I could be sold that the house was haunted.

Fear does that to a person.

Do those thoughts ever run through YOUR head? Would you do the same thing Valdez did? Would you act out?

Tags: carjack, crime, illegal, immigrant, gun, cop, police, killer, juan, valdez