( CNN ) The Arizona police officer who intentionally slammed his car into an armed suspect previously faced an excessive force lawsuit in New York , according to court documents . Officer Michael Rapiejko was with the New York Police Department from 2003 to 2006 . Two years after he left , he was one of the defendants in a suit filed by a man who alleged that Rapiejko pointed a gun and threatened to shoot him and handcuffed and choked him in front of his family during a 2005 arrest . The lawsuit said Luis Colon had parked his car and gotten out when Rapiejko , with his gun aimed at Colon , ordered him back into the car . During his arrest on charges of obstructing governmental administration , disorderly conduct and resisting arrest , Colon alleged he was yanked from the car , handcuffed and choked . The charges against Colon were dropped six months later . Colon also sued two unnamed officers who arrived after the initial confrontation , court documents show . Colon and the city settled the suit for $ 20,000 . The settlement said the defendants were not admitting to any wrongdoing . Rapiejko had resigned voluntarily in 2006 , and there is no indication of any disciplinary action against him from the NYPD , a senior law enforcement official told CNN . The NYPD has said that it will not release further details about Rapiejko . Rapiejko 's actions in Marana , Arizona , in which he drove his patrol car into a man who had fired a rifle in the air minutes earlier and before that had pointed the gun at another officer , have stirred debate about what type of force police should have used . Authorities said no charges have been brought against the officer for the February incident . The suspect , 36-year-old Mario Valencia , survived and was hospitalized before being criminally charged . Marana police Chief Terry Rozema was asked Wednesday on CNN 's `` New Day '' whether police were fortunate that Valencia did n't die . `` That very well may be ... that it 's luck that he is still alive . The fact of the matter remains , though , deadly force was authorized , '' Rozema said . `` So if he ends up dying in that situation , ( then ) he ends up dying , and that 's unfortunate , ( but ) that 's not the desire of everybody , '' the chief added . In one of the dashcam videos , an officer who was tailing a walking Valencia at slow speed reports over the radio that the suspect has fired one round in the air with a rifle he is accused of stealing that morning from a nearby Walmart . Another patrol car zooms past , runs into the man from behind , then hits a short cinder block wall next to a driveway . Video from Rapiejko 's camera shows the officer 's vehicle running into Valencia , with the windshield smashing as the car hits the wall . Police in Marana justified Rapiejko 's actions . `` We do n't know that if ( Rapiejko ) lets him go for another 10 seconds , ( Valencia ) does n't take somebody out in the parking lot , '' Rozema said . `` And then we 're answering some completely different questions : 'Why did n't you act sooner ? ... This guy had a gun ... Why did n't you stop this guy before he shot my wife , before he shot my husband , before he shot my child ? ' `` Valencia 's attorney , Michelle Cohen-Metzger , told CNN on Tuesday that `` it is miraculous that my client is n't dead . '' `` Everything in the video seems to point towards an obvious excessive use of force , '' Cohen-Metzger said . Tucson Police Sgt . Pete Dugan told CNN that Valencia was involved in several crimes there the day he was struck , including a stealing a car that he drove a half hour north to Marana . Valencia faces 15 charges , including three counts of aggravated assault , three counts of armed robbery and possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited possessor . Cohen-Metzger said he had a prior record . His next court appearance is May 18 . He is in the Pima County Jail . Marana police on Thursday told CNN 's Miguel Marquez that a store gun lock was still on the rifle when it was recovered . The wire that goes through the trigger and the lever to reload the gun were loose enough to allow it to still be used , police said . CNN 's Tony Marco , Jason Hanna and Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley contributed to this report .
Officer Michael ##on was sued in federal court over claims he used excessive force during an arrest . The prosecutors settled the lawsuit while prosecutors and others admitted no guilt . having left the NYPD voluntarily in 2006 , source tells reporters .