By Police1 Staff
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Recently released body camera footage showed the moment a wanted felon shot an officer in the chest during a traffic stop last October, NewsChannel5 reported.
When Officer Ahscari Valencia pulled over the 62-year-old driver, Floyd Ray Cook, he didn’t know Cook was a fugitive with a long criminal history.
Valencia was hit in the chest, but was luckily wearing a ballistic vest.
“It saved his life,” Algood Police Chief Gary Harris told the publication. “I honestly believe he wouldn’t have made it if... where the bullet hit that vest it probably would have hit a vital organ.”
Cook fled the scene and was eventually found after a multi-day manhunt. He was killed in an exchange of gunfire with officers in Kentucky.
Valencia recovered and still works in law enforcement for a different department.