Man arrested after lengthy altercation with MPD

By NICK YAMASHITA

The Progress

A man was arrested by Mesquite Police Department (MPD) last week after stealing a bicycle, vandalizing city hall, and causing a traffic snarl while walking down the middle of traffic lanes yelling. The incident took place on February 27 at approximately 3:45 pm.

The suspect was later identified as Anthony DeFazio, 36, of Whitefish, Montana. He was charged with burglary, destruction of property, resisting a police officer, attempting to disarm a police officer, battery on a police officer, pedestrian failing to yield the right of way and petty larceny.

According to a Mesquite Police Department release, several citizens called the Mesquite Emergency Communications Center reporting that the man was walking in the middle of Mesquite Boulevard with a pair of pliers in his hand and yelling at vehicles as they passed by.

Only a few moments before, the suspect was caught on security video using a large rock to smash the glass doors in at Mesquite City Hall. He entered the main lobby and spent about nine minutes inside, vandalizing artworks and other items in the building.

Two MPD officers responded to the scene on the street and encountered the man noting that he could be in possible mental distress.

“They tried to de-escalate the situation by trying to get him to put down the pliers and cooperate,” explained MPD Public Information Officer Wyatt Oliver. “They followed him from city hall all the way down by Green Valley Grocery on Sandhill Blvd, trying to get him to cooperate.”

As the situation became more of a potentially unsafe situation; both for bystanders and the suspect himself; the officers decided that they had to intervene. A nonlethal taser was used to stop the suspect.

But even after being tazed, the suspect resisted arrest and fought back, grabbing for taser several times in the process. The officers restrained him and, with backup, were eventually able to put him in handcuffs.

The attempted de-escalation of the suspect lasted several minutes before the officers took physical action with the suspect.

After the suspect had been brought under control, the officers immediately called for emergency medical personnel.

After medical care, Defazio was transported to Mesquite Detention Center.

One officer received minor injuries and was evaluated at Mesa View Hospital and eventually released.

Once officer involved in the situation was put on administrative leave per Mesquite Police Department policy and standard protocol.

“As we investigated his criminal activity, we discovered he had stolen a bicycle from a residence on West Mesquite Boulevard and rode to City Hall,” stated Oliver.

The MPD released the official incident statement with video footage from the officers’ body cameras.

Other video footage of the altercation were posted shortly thereafter on the local media website Mesquite Citizen Journal as well as to social media.

The incident set off a flurry of public opinion posts to social media about the incident. Most of these expressed support for the police officers involved. Some criticized the MPD response as extreme and inappropriate. The Citizen Journal even used the bystander video to accuse arresting officers of using an illegal chokehold on the suspect, though this was difficult to determine from the video footage.

In a statement responding to questions from The Progress, Oliver said that all of the standard MPD policies and procedures are being followed in the aftermath of the incident.

“Even before the recent developments, we had implemented the standard protocol of the officer who used force to be on administrative leave while an investigation is done by a “use of force” review board on actions taken by the officer,” Oliver said. “This use of force incident is under review and still under investigation.”

Both videos of the incident can be viewed online. The Official MPD video is available at https://fb.watch/45lhcpl2Fo/

The private citizen video may be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEqTuz9wlhA