A dramatic video showing an Arizona police officer using his cruiser to purposely ram into an armed robbery suspect is raising questions about police abuse and excessive force.

The dash-cam video shows a Hispanic man walking down the street with a loaded rifle on Feb. 19. At one point, police say that the suspect, 36-year-old Mario Valencia, pointed the rifle at himself and threatened to kill himself. He also shot the rifle into the air, say officials.

In the video, a police car runs him down from behind at full speed. He then flips into the air as the cruiser slams into a wall. Ironically, Valencia survived the crashed with non-life-threatening injuries.

Arizona police are now speaking out in defense of Officer Michael Rapiejko's decision to apprehend the suspect by running him over. According to police, the officer's actions saved Valencia's life.

Marana police Sgt. Chris Warren said that the suicidal suspect went on a crime spree earlier that day that included robbing a convenience store in Tucson, breaking into a church, home invasion and stealing a car. He then drove to the Arizona suburb of Marana and stole a rifle from a Wal-Mart, reports the Boston Herald.

"If we're going to choose between maybe we'll let him go a little bit farther and see what happens, or we're going to take him out now and eliminate any opportunity he has to hurt somebody, you're going to err on the side of, in favor of the innocent people. Without a doubt," said Marana Police Chief Terry Rozema, according to CNN.

Rozema added that the situation warranted deadly force because the suspect was walking in the direction of a heavily populated area.

"This officer made a split-second decision, and in retrospect, when all the dust clears, I think we look at this and say, yeah, there's things we can learn from this," he said, "but the entire community is safe, all the officers are safe, and even the suspect in this case is safe."

However, the suspect's lawyer argues that the incident is a case of excessive force.

"Everything in the video seems to point towards an obvious excessive use of force. It is miraculous that my client isn't dead," said attorney Michelle Cohen-Metzger.

She pointed out that officers failed to make an effort to de-escalate the situation of a man "clearly suicidal, clearly in crisis."

"I find it ludicrous to say that we're saving this man's life whose suicidal by almost killing him," she said.

Prosecutors cleared Rapiejko of any wrongdoing in the case.

Watch video footage below.