Arizona police release body camera video of SoHo hotel suspect arrest
NEW YORK - Newly released body camera video shows the moment police arrested the man accused of killing a woman inside a SoHo hotel earlier this month.
Police in Scottsdale, Arizona said Raad Almansoori was caught with a stolen vehicle belonging to another woman he allegedly stabbed.
During a court hearing Monday, detectives said Almansoori described the SoHo murder in detail and identified himself in surveillance photos.
He is accused of beating 38-year-old Denisse Oleas-Arancibia to death with an iron earlier this month inside the hotel, and he is also suspected in other crimes in Florida and Texas.
- Read More: Manhattan DA says Arizona prosecutor is playing "political games" in SoHo hotel murder case
A woman in Florida described an encounter with the suspect after he was accused of sexual assault.
"This man had the tightest grip on my neck, right under my chin. Cut off the airway immediately. Knew was he was doing," Leah Palian said.
She said the two worked together at a restaurant, and he took off in her car after she called 911.
"I literally, verbatim told them, if you let him walk with a slap on the wrist, he's going to turn into a serial killer," Palian said.
Records show Almansoori was charged with grand theft auto, but charges of sexual battery and aggravated assault were dropped. Prosecutors said there wasn't enough evidence to prove those charges.
Almansoori is currently being held in custody in Arizona. Last week, the Maricopa County prosecutor said she would not extradite him to New York until he faced the charges there, blaming Manhattan's District Attorney Alvin Bragg's policies.
"Having observed the treatment of violent criminals in the New York area by the Manhattan DA there, Alvin Bragg, I think it's safer to keep him here and keep him in custody, so that he can not be out doing this to individuals either in our state, county or anywhere in the United States," Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said.
The district attorney's office fired back, calling the comments "political games."
"It is deeply disturbing to me that a member of my profession, a member of law enforcement, would choose to play political games in a murder case," said Bragg.