Story highlights Chief tells CNN that deadly force was warranted

Chief: If suspect ended up shooting people, police would be answering different questions

Incident happened February 19 in town near Tucson, Arizona

(CNN) An Arizona police chief on Wednesday supported an officer's decision to drive his car into an armed suspect, saying that although the move could have killed the suspect, deadly force was justified.

Video of the incident, recorded February 19 by the dashboard cameras of two Marana police cars, shows one of the cars running into a suspect with who had a rifle in the city about a half hour from Tucson.

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 didn'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.

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