New Mexico State Police have released chilling footage of the moment a violent drug dealer jumped out of his truck and shot a traffic stop before dying in a hail of bullets after a 40-mile chase. Officer Darrian Jarrott, 28, a father-of-three young children, who was expecting a fourth, had asked Omar Felix Cueva, 39, to exit the vehicle, when he was unexpectedly gunned down in cold blood by the drug dealer.
Seconds before the officer had asked Cueva, who was on his way to a drug deal, to hand over his rifle, which appears to have sparked his murderous act. Although the incident, which took place at Interstate 10 near near mile marker 102 east of Deming, New Mexico, on February 4, the sickening footage was released only on Sunday.
Fatal Traffic Stop
The harrowing video opens quite normally, with Jarrott telling Cueva that he was being stopped because his window tint was too dark. In a brief conversation lasting around three minutes, Jarrott asks if Cueva had insurance, to which he replies "yes", and confirms his name, before asking the criminal to come over to his patrol car so he could run checks.
Cueva was initially cooperative but the stop took an ugly turn when Jarrott asked the criminal if he had any firearms. Ceuva is then seen stepping out of the driver's side of his Chevrolet pick-up truck with an AR-15-style rifle before firing one shot at Jarrott over the rear of the vehicle.
Jarrott immediately tries to take cover by ducking but is fatally shot and falls onto his back. However, Cueva doesn't stop there, he then runs around the side of the vehicle comes closer to where Jarrott was lying and fires several more rounds. He then runs to the front of the truck and kills Jarrott with a point-blank shot to the back of his head.
At one point during the stop, Jarrott asks Cueva whether he has a firearm, and asks politely "do you mind if I take it off you for my safety?" With the driver's side door open, he tells Cueva to "hold on" and begins to walk back to his police cruiser.
Meanwhile, Cueva can be seen on the other side of the car preparing the rifle. As the two men walk on either side of the cargo bed, Ceuva then snaps the gun up and fires as Jarrott exclaims "oh s***" and falls down. And moments later he is seen lying down with more gunshots at his back fired by Cueva.
Killed in Cold Blood
New Mexico State Police released a five minute video of the incident which includes footage from Officer Jarrott's bodycam and the dashcam of his patrol car. Much of the video is inaudible due to the rushing wind and fast moving traffic, but Jarrott seems calm as he chats with Cueva.
However, thing soon become violent and Cueva then kills the officer in cold blood and then flees the scene. Moments later, a Homeland Security Investigations agent is seen arriving on the scene and notifying dispatch that Jarrott has been shot.
Following that, another violent chase begins between Ceuva and other officers from the department. The incident ended up in a 40-mile chase, during which Cueva exchanged several rounds of gunshots with officers from New Mexico State Police, the Cruces Police Department, the Dona Ana County Sheriff's Office, and US Border Patrol.
However, cops managed to stop Cueva by using stingers to blow out his tires and soon his vehicle overturns. Even as his car came to a stop, Cueva exited his vehicle with a pistol and opened fire at officers but was finally killed in the shootout.
Las Cruces police officer Adrian De La Garza was also hit by gunfire and was airlifted to a trauma hospital in Texas. According to police Cueva Police had a "violent criminal history", including drug charges involving cocaine and meth. He was first arrested at the age of 13 for vandalism, then for drug trafficking at 21, and possession with intent to distribute crystal meth at age 29.
Jarrott had been on the force since 2015 after working as a Transportation Inspector for the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.
