Police said it was a road-rage incident involving two unlikely parties — an on-duty Phoenix police officer with a van full of inmates and two Catholic missionaries on their way to church.
The officer, Jeremy Sweet, admitted that he pointed his gun at the pair on Oct. 28 while shuttling several inmates either to or from jail, police said. The incident led to his immediate arrest that day on one count of aggravated assault, a Class 3 felony, and his eventual termination from the department.
12 News has obtained more than 60 pages of Sweet's personnel file that have shed more light on the officer's background.
In several performance reviews, there was nothing but high praise from his supervisors. In October 2013, Sweet's supervisor of the Centralized Booking Detail said, "I find you to be very professional in your dealings with civilian staff as well as those prisoners you come into contact with." Another said Sweet was "an asset to the W10 central booking unit squad."
Sweet himself wrote the following about his job: "I find it personally challenging as well as rewarding to be able to calm the situation down and therefore attain compliance during the process."
But fast forward to mid-January, and that was not the officer former state lawmaker Armando Ruiz described to a 911 dispatcher.
"I had, what I think, what was maybe a policeman pull a gun on me. He was in an unmarked van," Ruiz said.
Ruiz was in the car with fellow passenger Monica Rivera as they were heading to church. Ruiz said Sweet, who was transporting jail inmates in a white van, cut him off. Ruiz honked his horn. There was tailgating and ultimately Sweet pointed his gun at the pair.
"Just angry, just angry look on his face," Ruiz said.
Sweet's personnel file shows he went through relationship issues in 2013, claiming he was a victim of domestic violence and had used a police submission hold against his wife. Investigators determined it didn't rise to the level of misconduct.
Next year, Sweet told his supervisors he was moving out of his home.
But also in 2014, Sweet was nominated for the department's Safe Driving award.
The victims' attorney, Steven Montoya, said there's a plea deal that includes Sweet not being able to be an officer again.
Montoya said part of that deal includes Sweet being slapped with a misdemeanor of endangerment, but said this all hinges on a judge's decision.
