Antioch officer shoots robbery suspect after being pulled into moving car

An Antioch police officer was dragged into a robbery suspect's getaway car Feb. 20 and fired a single shot to stop the vehicle, body camera footage released by the city shows.

The footage, released more than two months after the incident, offers a rare first-person view of the split-second decisions officers face during violent felony stops — a subject of sustained debate in California law enforcement policy.

Officers responded to a report of an armed robbery at a Food Maxx grocery store in Antioch on Feb. 20, according to ABC7 Los Angeles. During the initial confrontation, the suspect's vehicle reversed and struck the store building before officers could contain the scene.

As officers moved in on the car, the driver accelerated to flee — pulling one officer inside the moving vehicle, the body camera footage shows. Trapped in the passenger compartment, the officer issued repeated commands over the next several seconds.

"stop ...stop the car or I will shoot you," the officer warned, according to audio captured on the body camera video. The suspect replied, "I'm gonna go like 10 miles an hour," before telling the officer, "put the gun down, I don't trust you."

After the suspect failed to comply with multiple warnings, the officer fired once and struck the suspect in the leg. The wound caused the driver to lose control, and the vehicle crashed into a parked car, ABC7 reported.

The suspect then attempted to flee the scene on foot but was taken into custody by responding officers. The officer who had been trapped inside the vehicle was not injured.

The city of Antioch released the body camera footage April 25, more than two months after the Feb. 20 incident.