Dramatic body-cam video made public this week reveals a life-or-death struggle inside a robbery suspect’s vehicle. An Antioch officer was forced to shoot from the passenger seat after being whisked away in a high-speed kidnapping.
Around 5:16 a.m. on Feb. 20., officers rushed to the 4500 block of Lone Tree Way after a 911 call reported a robbery in progress at a FoodMaxx.
The caller warned that at least one suspect was armed and had made threats.
By the time police arrived, the situation had already escalated.
Surveillance video later showed a black SUV backing into the store’s entrance, shattering the glass doors as three men exited, one reportedly armed, in an attempt to steal alcohol.
Employees were not injured.
Within minutes, officers confronted one of the suspects, identified as 23-year-old Dominick Desouza.
Authorities say Desouza rammed his SUV into a patrol car as officers moved in.
What happened next quickly turned into a life-or-death struggle.
An officer on foot engaged Desouza near the vehicle, but as the suspect accelerated, the officer was pulled inside.
The SUV smashed into both a patrol car and the storefront before speeding off, trapping the officer in the passenger seat.
For roughly two miles, Desouza drove recklessly through city streets with the officer still inside the moving vehicle.
Police say the officer repeatedly ordered him to stop.
Body camera audio captured the escalating tension. The officer can be heard warning, “stop …stop the car or I will shoot you.”
Desouza responded, “I’m gonna go like 10 miles an hour,” and “put the gun down, I don’t trust you.”
At another point, he allegedly said, “I’m going to crash this motherf—er, I’m not going to jail,” and told the officer to get out of the moving car.
Despite efforts to de-escalate, Desouza ignored commands and continued driving at high speed.
Fearing for his safety, the officer fired his service weapon, striking Desouza in the leg.
The SUV soon crashed into a parked car in a residential neighborhood about two miles from the store.
Desouza then fled on foot but was found roughly 10 minutes later hiding in bushes, yelling, “he shot me, he shot me.”
He was taken into custody without further incident.
Authorities said Desouza suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The officer sustained minor injuries.
The two other suspects fled the scene during the initial confrontation and have not been detailed further in the release.
Desouza now faces multiple charges filed by the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office, including kidnapping, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, burglary, grand theft and unlawful vehicle taking.
The officers involved have been placed on paid administrative leave, standard procedure in officer-involved shootings.
The case remains under investigation by the Antioch Police Department in coordination with the district attorney’s office under the county’s Law Enforcement Involved Fatal Incident Protocol.