Family Presses City to Re-Examine Case

Tuesday, May 22, 2007
By Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writer

The family of a grandmother who was killed a year ago Monday when an Albuquerque Police officer struck her with his squad car wants the case re-examined.
And if Police Chief Ray Schultz, Sheriff Darren White and District Attorney Kari Brandenburg won't take another look at the circumstances surrounding Flora Aragon's death, "we'll hit the streets with petitions and let the voters decide whether these people should still have jobs," Aragon's granddaughter, Denise Baker, said during a rally Downtown on Monday. "We won't stop until police officers stop thinking they are above the law."
On May 21, 2006, officer Zachariah Floyd was responding to a domestic violence call in which a man was trying to remove a child from a home just after midnight near 53rd and Central. On the way, his car hit a block wall and went into a yard where Aragon was outside chatting with family. The car pinned Aragon against a table, killing her.
A grand jury in March decided not to indict Floyd.
Baker and other family members have filed a civil wrongful death lawsuit against Floyd and the city of Albuquerque. It is pending.
On Monday, members of the family and local watchdog group Vecinos United signed a citizen's arrest warrant for Floyd and letters to the City Council and Brandenburg asking for a criminal trial.
The group— about 20 people at its largest— marched with picket signs from police headquarters to City Council chambers, where the council was meeting.
Baker walked to the front of the room and asked to present "some paperwork," to which Council President Debbie O'Malley replied: "Excuse me, you're out of order."