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."
Showing posts with label Vecinos United. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vecinos United. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Group calls for citizen's arrest of cop in fatal crash
By Michael Gisick, The Albuquerque Tribune
Monday, May 21, 2007
A police watchdog group is seeking the citizen's arrest of an Albuquerque police officer involved in a fatal wreck last year.
New Mexico Vecinos United is also calling for the resignations of Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz and Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, charging both with condoning abuses by their officers.
A letter calling for the resignations will be handed over to city and county officials during a protest today, Vecinos United director Andres Valdez said. The protest marks the one-year anniversary of the crash that left 74-year-old Flora Aragon dead.
A grand jury this year cleared APD Officer Zachariah Floyd of criminal wrongdoing in the crash.
An APD investigation found that he was speeding through a South Valley neighborhood while responding to a domestic violence call when he swerved to avoid another vehicle and hit a wall outside Aragon's home. The wall collapsed, killing Aragon and injuring two other people.
Valdez said the group will hand over a "citizen's arrest warrant" against Floyd as part of the protest, scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. outside the main police station Downtown.
"We're going to present it to the chief and see what the response is," Valdez said. "We're not going to grab (Floyd) and use excessive force against him."
Valdez said the "warrant" has not been signed by a judge.
"And we probably won't find one who will sign it," he added.
APD spokeswoman Trish Hoffman said a warrant without a judge's signature has no legal standing. She said she'd never heard of private citizens swearing out an arrest warrant.
"There's a process in place, and it was followed," Hoffman said of the Floyd case. "The grand jury determined that no crime was committed."
Aragon's family has filed a wrongful death suit against APD, said Aragon's granddaughter, Denise Baker.
The letter from Vecinos United claims officers initially called in the crash that killed Aragon as a minor traffic accident, and that as a result emergency medical responders weren't prepared to treat her injuries.
It also claims police tried to have firefighters wash away blood at the scene to destroy evidence.
Baker said she hopes the arrest warrant, which was her idea, will prompt a second look at the case.
"We don't know what was presented" to the grand jury, whose proceedings are secret, Baker said. "We want another court to look at this."
Baker said the failure to prosecute Floyd left the impression that police officers are "above the law, in some cases."
Vecinos United charges Schultz with condoning abuses by officers in several cases, including Aragon's.
"Thank God most police officers are reputable and good officers," the letter to Schultz states. "You are not one of them."
But, it continues, "You must resign so that there may be some hope for a police chief that would get rid of officers that hurt, kill and abuse human beings."
A letter to White employs similar language and says the group calls for his resignation with "much joy."
Valdez was instrumental in pushing for the creation of APD's independent Police Oversight Commission after a series of police shootings in the late 1990s. He's since been critical of the commission, saying it sides too often with police.
An attempt to make a citizen's arrest of a law enforcement official is not without precedent in New Mexico.
As Valdez noted, Chicano land rights leader Reyes Lopez Tijerina used the proposed citizen's arrest of a district attorney as the basis for the famed 1967 raid on the Rio Arriba County Courthouse in Tierra Amarilla.
"That's not to say we're intending to raid anything," Valdez said. "We're not."
Monday, May 21, 2007
A police watchdog group is seeking the citizen's arrest of an Albuquerque police officer involved in a fatal wreck last year.
New Mexico Vecinos United is also calling for the resignations of Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz and Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, charging both with condoning abuses by their officers.
A letter calling for the resignations will be handed over to city and county officials during a protest today, Vecinos United director Andres Valdez said. The protest marks the one-year anniversary of the crash that left 74-year-old Flora Aragon dead.
A grand jury this year cleared APD Officer Zachariah Floyd of criminal wrongdoing in the crash.
An APD investigation found that he was speeding through a South Valley neighborhood while responding to a domestic violence call when he swerved to avoid another vehicle and hit a wall outside Aragon's home. The wall collapsed, killing Aragon and injuring two other people.
Valdez said the group will hand over a "citizen's arrest warrant" against Floyd as part of the protest, scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. outside the main police station Downtown.
"We're going to present it to the chief and see what the response is," Valdez said. "We're not going to grab (Floyd) and use excessive force against him."
Valdez said the "warrant" has not been signed by a judge.
"And we probably won't find one who will sign it," he added.
APD spokeswoman Trish Hoffman said a warrant without a judge's signature has no legal standing. She said she'd never heard of private citizens swearing out an arrest warrant.
"There's a process in place, and it was followed," Hoffman said of the Floyd case. "The grand jury determined that no crime was committed."
Aragon's family has filed a wrongful death suit against APD, said Aragon's granddaughter, Denise Baker.
The letter from Vecinos United claims officers initially called in the crash that killed Aragon as a minor traffic accident, and that as a result emergency medical responders weren't prepared to treat her injuries.
It also claims police tried to have firefighters wash away blood at the scene to destroy evidence.
Baker said she hopes the arrest warrant, which was her idea, will prompt a second look at the case.
"We don't know what was presented" to the grand jury, whose proceedings are secret, Baker said. "We want another court to look at this."
Baker said the failure to prosecute Floyd left the impression that police officers are "above the law, in some cases."
Vecinos United charges Schultz with condoning abuses by officers in several cases, including Aragon's.
"Thank God most police officers are reputable and good officers," the letter to Schultz states. "You are not one of them."
But, it continues, "You must resign so that there may be some hope for a police chief that would get rid of officers that hurt, kill and abuse human beings."
A letter to White employs similar language and says the group calls for his resignation with "much joy."
Valdez was instrumental in pushing for the creation of APD's independent Police Oversight Commission after a series of police shootings in the late 1990s. He's since been critical of the commission, saying it sides too often with police.
An attempt to make a citizen's arrest of a law enforcement official is not without precedent in New Mexico.
As Valdez noted, Chicano land rights leader Reyes Lopez Tijerina used the proposed citizen's arrest of a district attorney as the basis for the famed 1967 raid on the Rio Arriba County Courthouse in Tierra Amarilla.
"That's not to say we're intending to raid anything," Valdez said. "We're not."
Monday, November 22, 2004
We Got The Camera: CopWatch Starts Patrolling Albuquerque
For Immediate Release:
We Got The Camera: Cop Watch Starts Patrolling Albuquerque
Email: Copwatch505 (at) riseup (dot) net
In response to incidents of police brutality a group of Albuquerque
residents have banded together to change the way police treat people. They
will soon be hitting the streets with bright orange shirts, knowledge of
the law, and video cameras aimed at local police.
Cop Watch seeks to change the ways in which police treat youth of color,
homeless people, and the public generally.
Cop Watch is hosting a training on how and why citizen monitoring of police
behavior is a good idea, how to be safe and effective, and what your legal
rights are when dealing with the police.
Inspired by the community cop watching patrols of the Black Panther Party
and the Brown Berets, the Cop Watch movement has grown in recent years to
include several groups across the country. The goal of CopWatch is to
change the behavior of the police, and in some cities, they have. In
Phoenix, AZ, police are now trained to always behave as if they are always
being filmed and watched by citizens. This was not part of their training
until Phoenix Cop Watch began patrolling.
Houston Cop Watch member Heather Ajani says that Cop Watch has changed
police behavior in cities like Phoenix and Houston. “When they are being
filmed, police are more polite and respectful of people they are
detaining, questioning, or apprehending.”
The impetus to start civilian patrols of the police in Albuquerque came
from a series of meetings that Vecinos United and other community based
organizations were having with victims of police brutality. Vecinos United
organizer Andres Valdez was part of the campaign which pushed the city to
create a Police Oversight Commission four years ago.
Now he says that the POC, lacking independence and authority has proved to
be “pretty much a rubber stamp for the police and they regard it as a
joke.” Valdez says that Cop Watch will be good because “Now we have to do
as much as we can for and by ourselves.”
Many victims of police brutality fear lodging formal complaints with the
city and say that police have engaged in intimidation to silence them.
Cop Watch hopes to change this by educating people about their legal rights
and working with community organizations to bring about justice.
The day long training session will be on December 4th at 929.5 4th St SW,
starting at 9:30 am. The training is free to the general public, but no
public or private law enforcement officers are allowed to attend. Coffee
and meals will provided. Those who need childcare should notify the
organizers. Those who wish to attend should RSVP by email or phone.
We Got The Camera: Cop Watch Starts Patrolling Albuquerque
Email: Copwatch505 (at) riseup (dot) net
In response to incidents of police brutality a group of Albuquerque
residents have banded together to change the way police treat people. They
will soon be hitting the streets with bright orange shirts, knowledge of
the law, and video cameras aimed at local police.
Cop Watch seeks to change the ways in which police treat youth of color,
homeless people, and the public generally.
Cop Watch is hosting a training on how and why citizen monitoring of police
behavior is a good idea, how to be safe and effective, and what your legal
rights are when dealing with the police.
Inspired by the community cop watching patrols of the Black Panther Party
and the Brown Berets, the Cop Watch movement has grown in recent years to
include several groups across the country. The goal of CopWatch is to
change the behavior of the police, and in some cities, they have. In
Phoenix, AZ, police are now trained to always behave as if they are always
being filmed and watched by citizens. This was not part of their training
until Phoenix Cop Watch began patrolling.
Houston Cop Watch member Heather Ajani says that Cop Watch has changed
police behavior in cities like Phoenix and Houston. “When they are being
filmed, police are more polite and respectful of people they are
detaining, questioning, or apprehending.”
The impetus to start civilian patrols of the police in Albuquerque came
from a series of meetings that Vecinos United and other community based
organizations were having with victims of police brutality. Vecinos United
organizer Andres Valdez was part of the campaign which pushed the city to
create a Police Oversight Commission four years ago.
Now he says that the POC, lacking independence and authority has proved to
be “pretty much a rubber stamp for the police and they regard it as a
joke.” Valdez says that Cop Watch will be good because “Now we have to do
as much as we can for and by ourselves.”
Many victims of police brutality fear lodging formal complaints with the
city and say that police have engaged in intimidation to silence them.
Cop Watch hopes to change this by educating people about their legal rights
and working with community organizations to bring about justice.
The day long training session will be on December 4th at 929.5 4th St SW,
starting at 9:30 am. The training is free to the general public, but no
public or private law enforcement officers are allowed to attend. Coffee
and meals will provided. Those who need childcare should notify the
organizers. Those who wish to attend should RSVP by email or phone.
Thursday, October 22, 1998
October 22nd, 1998
Report on Oct 22 National Day of Protest events
National Office of the October 22nd Coalition for a National Day of Protest
to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation
"Albuquerque, New Mexico: 50 people from New Mexico Vecinos United, Food not Bombs, the UNM Hemp Coalition, the UNM Progressive Student Alliance, Latinos Unidos, and more, marched from the University of New Mexico to the Albuquerque Police Department. They demanded that the Mayor's Office meet with them about a police officer that the police department refused to dismiss, and that they get a civilian review board. They were granted the meeting and won the civilian review board. Press refused to cover them, and refused to acknowledge that they were part of a National Day of Protest."
http://wearcam.org/decon/stolen_lives_october22.htm
National Office of the October 22nd Coalition for a National Day of Protest
to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and the Criminalization of a Generation
"Albuquerque, New Mexico: 50 people from New Mexico Vecinos United, Food not Bombs, the UNM Hemp Coalition, the UNM Progressive Student Alliance, Latinos Unidos, and more, marched from the University of New Mexico to the Albuquerque Police Department. They demanded that the Mayor's Office meet with them about a police officer that the police department refused to dismiss, and that they get a civilian review board. They were granted the meeting and won the civilian review board. Press refused to cover them, and refused to acknowledge that they were part of a National Day of Protest."
http://wearcam.org/decon/stolen_lives_october22.htm
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