A Mesa police officer sitting in his marked patrol car with the emergency lights on and the windows down was shaken by an explosion beside his vehicle just before 6 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, in east Mesa, Arizona — and court documents now accuse a convicted felon of deliberately throwing an improvised explosive device at the car. Two men have been charged, with bonds set at $500,000 and $200,000, and the officer, whose injuries were not life-threatening, was released from hospital the same afternoon.
Source: Police1, reporting court documents obtained by AZ Family
What happened at 96th Street and Sunland Avenue
Officers were in the neighbourhood — near 96th Street and Hampton Avenue, close to Southern Avenue and Ellsworth Road — investigating a report of shots fired. One officer stopped about two blocks north, at 96th Street and Sunland Avenue, in a marked patrol vehicle with his lights flashing. Court documents say the device went off near the rear driver-side tyre, blowing off the car's fuel door, damaging a tail light and leaving burn marks and residue on the vehicle. The officer drove away to find cover because he did not know what had exploded, and he reported ringing in his ear.
Mesa police said the shots-fired report that brought officers to the area appears to be unrelated to the explosion. Detective Laura Cervantes, the department's spokesperson, said preliminary details indicate the device was intentionally thrown at the officer; the officer was taken to hospital as a precaution and released on Thursday afternoon.
Source: The Arizona Republic, via The Orbit Post (Detective Laura Cervantes, Mesa Police)
What the surveillance video showed, according to court documents
A neighbour's surveillance camera recorded two men standing on a patio, the court documents say. One held an item that appeared to be on fire. The taller man — identified in the documents as Christopher Byassee — threw it toward the patrol car. Police said the device landed, rolled toward the car and exploded about five seconds later in a large cloud of smoke; the flash was bright enough to switch the camera from night-vision to daytime mode. Both men then walked back into the house, according to the documents.
The search, the bomb squad and the firearms in the back bedroom
When officers called the people inside the home to come out, Byassee, a man identified as Christopher Jones and a third man — the homeowner — came out and were detained. Officers cleared the house and found no one else inside, and they ruled out the homeowner as a suspect, noting that he uses a walker and did not match the two men in the video. Bomb-squad detectives confirmed that an improvised explosive device had detonated, and they found small pieces of cardboard and scorch marks at the intersection where the patrol car had been parked.
A search warrant turned up several lighters and a butane torch in the home, and investigators took DNA and residue swabs from both men, the documents say. Officers also found several firearms in a back bedroom fitted with a keypad lock, including a shotgun with a damaged serial number; the homeowner identified the room as Byassee's, and officers found other items showing it belonged to him.
According to the court documents, both men initially denied knowing what caused the explosion. Jones later told police he had seen Byassee holding a butane torch and something lit that he thought was a firework, and that Byassee threw it over his shoulder at the patrol car. That account is an allegation recorded in court documents, not a proven fact. Byassee asked for an attorney.
The charges and the bonds
Byassee's bond was set at $500,000 on charges of aggravated assault on a first responder, arson of an occupied structure, possession of a prohibited weapon, criminal damage, disorderly conduct, depositing explosives, and two counts of possessing a weapon as a prohibited possessor. Jones was booked as an accomplice on charges of arson of an occupied structure and criminal damage, with his bond set at $200,000. Court documents obtained by AZ Family spell the first surname "Byassee"; Mesa police announcements rendered it "Byasse." Both men are presumed innocent unless and until the charges are proven in court.
Police say the device was intentionally thrown at the officer, that the explosion was an isolated event with no threat to the public, and that it was unrelated to the shots-fired call that brought officers to the neighbourhood.
What police have not said
Investigators have not publicly established a motive, and beyond the bomb squad's confirmation that the device was improvised, police have not described exactly what it was made of. The officer has not been named. Local television reporting said a nearby school briefly went into lockdown that morning and that the lockdown was lifted. The investigation remains ongoing, according to Mesa police.
What happens next
Both men were expected to be booked into Maricopa County custody and to appear in court on Friday, according to ABC15 reporting carried in local coverage. The charges will now move through Maricopa County's court process, where prosecutors must prove each allegation. Awaaz Punjab will update this story as court records and police statements add verified detail.