Driver shot by Richland officer confronted Tri-Cities police before

A 32-year-old man shot this week by a Richland officer has a history of ignoring police commands and trying to fight when facing arrest.

Charlie J. Suarez was released from the hospital after being treated for reported gunshot wounds in the leg and the hip.

He has not been booked into jail or charged with a crime for the Monday evening incident, though detectives say they’re not yet done investigating what happened along the Highway 240 bypass.

Few details have been released about the actual shooting.

The regional Special Investigations Unit on Wednesday identified the man who was shot and the 7-year veteran police officer who wounded him.

It has not been disclosed whether Richland Officer Christian Jabri was aware of Suarez’s history with Pasco police when he made contact Monday.

In that March 2019 case, Suarez led police on a high-speed chase while driving erratically on city streets and Highway 395.

He came close to intentionally hitting a patrol car, drove through construction barrels and a fence surrounding a business compound, and fought with an officer, court documents show.

He served one year in prison on three felony convictions.

In the aftermath of this week’s shooting, police have not revealed if Suarez had a weapon on him or if one was found at the scene.

Suarez had been ordered not to own or possess any guns as part of the earlier conviction, unless he got his rights restored.

‘Don’t have all answers yet’

A Wednesday news release from Kennewick police Commander Randy Maynard said Suarez was driving the highway at Wellsian Way about 7 p.m. when he crashed and flipped his car.

Witnesses saw Suarez running away and gave police his description, according to scanner reports.

Officer Jabri was searching the walking trails parallel to the highway when he spotted Suarez.

Jabri — who has been with the Richland Police Department for two years — can be heard on the radio broadcast saying he was starting to pursue the driver.

Within seconds, Jabri reports, “Shots fired. Shots fired. Shots fired. Suspect is down.”

Police and firefighters provided aid to the injured Suarez, including putting a tourniquet on this leg.

Wednesday’s news release does not say what prompted Jabri to fire at Suarez along the jogging path.

“The investigation is not complete,” Maynard told the Tri-City Herald. “We don’t have all the answers yet.”

It is unclear if Jabri is on leave pending the investigation as is standard in officer-involved shooting investigations.

The SIU team, with detectives from other law enforcement agencies other than Richland, took over the investigation on Monday night.

They finished processing the scene at 3 a.m. on Tuesday, and have conducted numerous interviews, said Maynard.

2019 police pursuit

In March 2019, Pasco police were called to a North Elm Street home by a woman who said she had a no-contact order on her ex but continued to drive by honking his horn.

The woman reported that Suarez had banged on the front door of her own home and bumped the side of the house with his SUV to get her attention, actions that scared her children and forced her to move them to a relative’s home.

Suarez tracked them down at the second home, and started driving by again when police where there. He then sped off and was chased by Pasco Officer Kierra Peoples, according to court documents.

He avoided attempts by Peoples to force Suarez’s SUV to spin out, and narrowly missed hitting a motorist who’d pulled over and another patrol car.

Police said once back on Oregon Avenue, Suarez kept swerving into oncoming traffic as if he was trying to get into a head-on collision.

After crashing his SUV through the fence at Maxim Crane Works, Suarez ran from his car and then took up a “fighting posture” when Peoples approached. The officer yelled that he was under arrest, and Suarez ran toward her to fight and the two went down to the ground, documents said.

Suarez was convicted of second-degree assault, third-degree assault and attempting to elude police.

Investigators are asking anyone with information on Suarez or this week’s shooting to contact Kennewick police Sgt. Dan Todd at 509-582-1315 or daniel.todd@ci.kennewick.wa.us, or Pasco police Sgt. Jamie Raebel at 509-544-3076 or raebelj@pasco-wa.gov.

This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 3:47 PM.