Suspect reached for Kennewick officers’ guns. 3 cops were hurt in the struggle

A Kennewick police officer suffered several broken ribs when he and other officers fought with a suspect in a domestic violence dispute.

In all, three officers were injured.

Police were called about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday after Juan Martinez-Rodriguez allegedly violated a no-contact court order at a Quay Street home.

The 32-year-old refused to listen to police and went inside the house.

When two officers followed and tried to arrest him, Martinez-Rodriguez started struggling with them, said Lt. Aaron Clem.

Officers tried stunning him with a Taser twice, but weren’t able to shock him. More officers joined the struggle, but Martinez-Rodriguez kept up the fight for several minutes, Clem said.

In the struggle, he grabbed for the officers’ guns and Tasers but didn’t get them, said Clem.

After more officers arrived, police were able to get Martinez-Rodriguez under control.

The fight drew a crowd of Martinez-Rodriguez’s relatives, and two of them recorded the struggle on their cellphones.

They later refused to hand over their phones to police.

They started to pass the phones around to keep them out of the hands of the officer. One of them broke their phone, but police were able to seize the others.

Clem said the officers will get a search warrant to copy the video and then the phones will be returned. Some of the relatives were cited for obstruction.

Three Kennewick officers were treated at local hospitals and will need time to recover, he said.

Martinez-Rodriguez was checked for injuries and booked into the Benton County jail for violating a court order and resisting arrest.