An Aurora police officer who shot and injured an alleged car thief this week fatally shot another suspected car thief three years ago at a Super 8 Motel, police said Thursday.
The department’s spokesman would not identify the officer, who is on paid administrative leave while the Arapahoe County district attorney’s office investigates the shooting.
However, a department spokesman confirmed that he’s a seven-year veteran and was one of three officers involved in the shooting of 26-year-old Daniel Warren Dawson, who was shot 19 times in December 2004. All three officers were cleared by the DA’s office and an Internal Affairs review.
“The suspect in that case was shooting at officers with a gun,” police spokesman Bob Friel said.
On Tuesday, the officer, working undercover, shot several times into the windshield of a stolen Honda Prelude after the driver backed into and drove onto the hood of another car while trying to get away.
The suspect, identified as 19-year-old Christian Rodriguez of Denver, was not armed. Rodriguez was still hospitalized Thursday after being shot several times, authorities said.
The DA’s office on Thursday received the case from police investigators, charging Rodriguez with attempted murder with extreme indifference — for endangering the driver of the car he backed onto — car theft, eluding, aggravated driving with a revoked license and obstructing a police officer. The most severe penalty he would face if convicted, for the attempted-murder charge, carries a punishment of up to 48 years in prison, DA’s spokeswoman Kathleen Walsh said.
Walsh said a separate prosecutor will investigate the use of force in the Rodriguez case.
Rodriguez has a string of misdemeanor traffic offenses in Denver dating to 2005, according to Colorado Bureau of Investigation records. His arrest record does not indicate any felony arrests as an adult.
On Tuesday night, undercover officers happened upon the parked stolen Prelude. Officers followed the car after Rodriguez and another male entered it and drove away. They closed in on the Honda as it was stopped on westbound East Sixth Avenue at Dayton Street.
Friel said Rodriguez was driving and must have recognized an officer. He put the car into reverse, smashing into a Saturn behind him. The Honda drove onto the Saturn’s hood and got stuck.
Seeing the driver of the Saturn in danger, the officer fired into the Honda, Friel said. The Saturn’s driver suffered minor injuries that did not require hospitalization, he said.
Manny Gonzales: 303-954-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com
