Teen Shocked By Taser to Sue Cops

By Jeremy Pawloski, Journal Staff Writer

The family of a 16-year-old boy who is accused of battering a police officer during a Frito pie food fight at Capital High School Oct. 5 will sue the Santa Fe Police Department for repeatedly shocking the teen with a Taser gun during the incident.
Sheri Raphaelson, 16-year-old Nick Mendoza's civil attorney, also said that at least one of the police officers who shocked Mendoza with a Taser during the incident called Mendoza a "mojado," or wetback.
Raphaelson said that Mendoza was shocked five times, and at least two of the Taser shocks came after Mendoza had already been handcuffed.
"There is no legal or ethical justification for Tasing this child after he was handcuffed and completely under the officers' control," Raphaelson said. "Tasing the child at that point could only have been for the amusement of the police officers."
City, state and county officers were called to Capital High Oct. 5 after students started throwing Frito pie at one another, leading to a disturbance that police said involved as many as 200 students. A security guard was treated for a mild concussion after he was hit in the head with a large object, possibly a bottle or rock.
Mendoza is charged in Santa Fe Children's Court with battery against a police officer and resisting arrest.
Prosecutor Heidi Zoyhofski said one police detective has already told a judge that when police responded at Capital High School, Mendoza was "trying to grab an officer around the waist, trying to body slam him to the ground."
Zoyhofski also noted that Mendoza has seven referrals to juvenile court for various juvenile offenses, and four of them are "for battery-type offenses."
Raphaelson said it is unfortunate that Mendoza is the only one who was charged in the aftermath of the Frito pie food fight, particularly in light of the fact that Mendoza was not even involved.
"He wasn't even in the cafeteria at the time of the food fight," Raphaelson said.
Santa Fe City Attorney Bruce Thompson said Tuesday he was not aware of the potential for litigation against the police department for shocking Mendoza, and so he did not have an immediate comment.
Santa Fe Deputy Police Chief Eric Johnson has said police who responded to the food fight "acted within our policy and procedure."
Mark Dickson, Mendoza's Children's Court attorney, said Tuesday, "It's unfortunate that Nick was Tased."
Dickson was present during a Tuesday hearing to decide whether Mendoza would be released from a juvenile detention facility pending the outcome of his charges.
Dickson added that Mendoza "is not a large adolescent by any means."
Zoyhofski said during Tuesday's hearing that Mendoza is a documented gang member, but Dickson denied that Mendoza is a member of any gang.
Raphaelson said the reason police paid any attention to Mendoza at all is because he had responded to other students who were yelling "mojado" at him.
Santa Fe District Judge Michael Vigil ruled that Mendoza must remain in custody until a juvenile hearing to be held Monday morning before Santa Fe Children's Court Judge Barbara Vigil.
During Monday's hearing, school officials will have already met to decide what Mendoza's school status will be, and that is an outcome that Judge Michael Vigil said he wants Judge Barbara Vigil to have at her disposal before she makes a ruling on whether he should remain in custody.
Raphaelson said that because Mendoza is a special education student, it is unlikely that he will be suspended from Capital High. If a school district suspends a special education student, that school district must pay to educate the student at home, under an individualized education plan.

Teen Shocked By Taser to Sue Cops

By Jeremy Pawloski , Journal Staff Writer

The family of a 16-year-old boy who is accused of battering a police officer during a Frito pie food fight at Capital High School Oct. 5 will sue the Santa Fe Police Department for repeatedly shocking the teen with a Taser gun during the incident.
Sheri Raphaelson, 16-year-old Nick Mendoza's civil attorney, also said that at least one of the police officers who shocked Mendoza with a Taser during the incident called Mendoza a "mojado," or wetback.
Raphaelson said that Mendoza was shocked five times, and at least two of the Taser shocks came after Mendoza had already been handcuffed.
"There is no legal or ethical justification for Tasing this child after he was handcuffed and completely under the officers' control," Raphaelson said. "Tasing the child at that point could only have been for the amusement of the police officers."
City, state and county officers were called to Capital High Oct. 5 after students started throwing Frito pie at one another, leading to a disturbance that police said involved as many as 200 students. A security guard was treated for a mild concussion after he was hit in the head with a large object, possibly a bottle or rock.
Mendoza is charged in Santa Fe Children's Court with battery against a police officer and resisting arrest.
Prosecutor Heidi Zoyhofski said one police detective has already told a judge that when police responded at Capital High School, Mendoza was "trying to grab an officer around the waist, trying to body slam him to the ground."
Zoyhofski also noted that Mendoza has seven referrals to juvenile court for various juvenile offenses, and four of them are "for battery-type offenses."
Raphaelson said it is unfortunate that Mendoza is the only one who was charged in the aftermath of the Frito pie food fight, particularly in light of the fact that Mendoza was not even involved.
"He wasn't even in the cafeteria at the time of the food fight," Raphaelson said.
Santa Fe City Attorney Bruce Thompson said Tuesday he was not aware of the potential for litigation against the police department for shocking Mendoza, and so he did not have an immediate comment.
Santa Fe Deputy Police Chief Eric Johnson has said police who responded to the food fight "acted within our policy and procedure."
Mark Dickson, Mendoza's Children's Court attorney, said Tuesday, "It's unfortunate that Nick was Tased."
Dickson was present during a Tuesday hearing to decide whether Mendoza would be released from a juvenile detention facility pending the outcome of his charges.
Dickson added that Mendoza "is not a large adolescent by any means."
Zoyhofski said during Tuesday's hearing that Mendoza is a documented gang member, but Dickson denied that Mendoza is a member of any gang.
Raphaelson said the reason police paid any attention to Mendoza at all is because he had responded to other students who were yelling "mojado" at him.
Santa Fe District Judge Michael Vigil ruled that Mendoza must remain in custody until a juvenile hearing to be held Monday morning before Santa Fe Children's Court Judge Barbara Vigil.
During Monday's hearing, school officials will have already met to decide what Mendoza's school status will be, and that is an outcome that Judge Michael Vigil said he wants Judge Barbara Vigil to have at her disposal before she makes a ruling on whether he should remain in custody.
Raphaelson said that because Mendoza is a special education student, it is unlikely that he will be suspended from Capital High. If a school district suspends a special education student, that school district must pay to educate the student at home, under an individualized education plan.

Canine shot for attacking police officer

By Maggie Shepard, Albuquerque Tribune

A Bernalillo County sheriff's canine apparently mistook a deputy for a fleeing armed robbery suspect, and the error cost the dog its life.

The deputy shot the dog to get it off her deeply punctured arm about 11 a.m. Monday, department spokeswoman Erin Kinnard said.

Deputy Heather Schreckendgust underwent surgery for her arm injury Monday afternoon. Kinnard said the deputy's prognosis wasn't clear.

Schreckendgust was guarding a stash of stolen items while other deputies and canine units searched the ditch banks and surrounding areas near Le Avenue and Isleta Boulevard Southwest in the South Valley.

Kinnard said deputies were looking for suspects in a stabbing call at the Malpais Chevron gas station at Isleta Boulevard and Malpais Road Southwest. Deputies chased the car along a ditch, where it crashed and two of three suspects were apprehended, Kinnard said.

A third suspect was caught about 8 p.m.

Schreckendgust was monitoring a pile of stolen goods when the canine, Bart, emerged from foliage and bit her arm, Undersheriff Sal Baragiola said. She fired three shots and the dog died instantly.

Bart's handler, Deputy Larry Harlan was about 10 seconds behind his dog when he heard calls for help, Baragiola said.

Baragiola said it isn't unusual for dogs to bite suspects, but they routinely ignore deputies.

Schreckendgust was in plainclothes and possibly an official jacket, Kinnard said.

"Was that a factor? We don't know. We just don't know what made him bite her," Baragiola said.

Bart, a Belgian Malinois, was about 6 years old and has spent about four years on the force. Kinnard said the dog's actions are the subject of one pending lawsuit against the department.

She said it is just a coincidence that his name is the same as an Albuquerque Police Department canine that has been named in lawsuits for excessive biting.

The dog's death leaves the department with four canines.

Ex-Cop Raises ID Issue In Case

Wednesday, October 12, 2005


By Scott Sandlin, Journal Staff Writer

An ex-cop accused of multiple assaults, sexual and otherwise, while on duty is raising questions about faulty police eyewitness identifications in the criminal case against him.
Christopher Chase contends bad eyewitness identifications resulting from poor techniques, including photo arrays, have been blamed for dozens of wrongful convictions nationwide.
Chase, 31, was charged in June 2003 by a Bernalillo County grand jury with 32 counts of criminal sexual penetration, battery, assault and kidnapping. The alleged incidents occurred while he was a uniformed officer in the Albuquerque Police Department.
But more than two years later, the criminal charges and four civil lawsuits remain up in the air. Chase, meanwhile, has been free on bond.
Chase is long gone from APD; he was fired in the wake of the investigation and resulting criminal case. But the city continues to pay his defense in the remaining civil lawsuits by the same alleged victims named in the criminal case.
Two civil suits have been resolved at trial in federal court. In one, the city paid $10,000 after a summary trial in favor of the plaintiff, who was a teenager at the time Chase allegedly hit him in the head with a flashlight.
In the other, a jury returned a $943,380 verdict against Chase to a woman who said she'd been raped by Chase. Chase repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in that case. The verdict, along with $150,000 in attorney fees awarded by the court, has been appealed.
Chase's criminal trial is set for Dec. 12 before Judge Denise Barela Shepherd. Chase has spent the better part of the past two weeks in state district court on pretrial issues raised in that case— primarily defense attorney Jacquelyn Robins' contention that her client was wrongfully identified during the police investigation.
Robins, citing a growing body of research, is calling into question what she claims are flawed photo array techniques used in identifying suspects. Robins plans to call Roy Malpass of the University of Texas at El Paso, a criminal justice expert in the field, to testify. The prosecution has requested that his testimony be excluded as confusing and unnecessary.
Lawyers in the federal lawsuit brought by alleged victim Kelly Ham make a similar argument. They say Ham was unable to identify Chase as the person who assaulted her "even when presented with defendant Chase in the courtroom."
Assistant District Attorney Michael Fricke countered that Chase's alleged victims "had many minutes or more to observe (him)," including one woman allegedly assaulted twice, each incident separated by five months.
Despite minor differences in the eyewitness descriptions, each provided similar characteristics, Fricke argued, saying it was a question for a jury to decide.
But Robins also has asked Shepherd to carve up the case into discrete groupings according to the date of the alleged incidents, and Chase's three city-paid civil attorneys want the same on the civil side.
"Chase will demonstrate that he will be prejudiced by a joint trial of all 32 counts and that the court must order separate trials," Robins said in a pleading.
The civil attorneys say evidence of alleged assaults against people other than the plaintiff can't be admitted because it is tenuous, prejudicial and cumulative.
Brad Hall, who represents plaintiffs in three pending federal cases set for separate trials starting in March, calls that argument "non-sensical."
"Chase has been adequately identified ... Detective Monte Curtis investigated the claims and identified Chase as the perpetrator ... If he was not the perpetrator, why did he 'take the Fifth'?" Hall said in the Ham case.

Board Won't Rule In Police Abuse

By Jeff Proctor, Journal Staff Writer

Jay Rowland, Albuquerque's top police watchdog, found himself in an unfamiliar position earlier this year when he saw an APD officer kick a homeless man "for absolutely no reason."
Rowland filed a citizen complaint against the officer, who was not named, in the Jan. 7 incident, alleging excessive force.
Police Chief Ray Schultz agreed with Rowland that the officer used poor judgment but ruled that there was not enough evidence to sustain the excessive force complaint.
At its monthly meeting last week, the Police Oversight Commission heard Rowland's and APD's versions of the incident but declined to rule on the case, citing conflict of interest. The case will be decided by the city Chief Administrative Officer James Lewis.
Rowland normally investigates citizen complaints, makes a ruling, then reports to the commission.
According to Rowland:
The officer got out of his car— on First SE, near the Century Downtown movie theater— and began talking to a man who "looked homeless."
"I couldn't hear the conversation, but I heard the officer say 'curb,' '' Rowland said. "He then kicked the man so hard he almost fell down. ... The man kept saying, 'But you didn't have to kick me.' ''
Rowland did not approach the officer at the time, instead deciding to go to the movies with his daughter and son-in-law.
Rowland's daughter and son-in-law also testified they believe the officer used excessive force in the incident.
According to APD Lt. Matt Suazo, who investigated the case for the department's internal affairs division:
A woman had flagged the officer down and reported that a pair of transient men were throwing rocks at buses.
One of the men tried to flee, and the officer apprehended him. After the man tried twice more to get away, the officer "did grab him by the shoulder and strike him, but only enough to gain compliance," Suazo said.
The officer did not cuff the man, nor did he write an incident report, Suazo said.
"Both of those things should have been done, and he was disciplined appropriately," he said.
Rowland contends the man was "in no shape to run, so he wasn't going to escape."
"Maybe handcuff him," Rowland said. "But there are other things to do besides a kick of the magnitude I saw."

Tic Tacs Apology Offered

By Andrea Schoellkopf, Journal Staff Writer

An off-duty police officer was reprimanded for not following procedure when he searched a middle school student accused of having drugs on the bus.
It turned out that the student only had a box of Tic Tacs.
The family of Scott Mills, now a Taylor Middle School eighth-grader, also has received a written apology from Albuquerque Police Chief Raymond Schultz after an investigation by the city's Independent Review Office.
"A preponderance of the evidence convinces that the off-duty officer should have called dispatch and either requested an on-duty officer to handle this issue or informed an on-duty officer what he was doing," independent review officer Jay Rowland said in the Sept. 8 letter to Joan Waters, an attorney for the Mills family.
Scott Mills had been ordered off a school bus and searched by an off-duty, out-of-uniform police officer, Rudy Llamas, after another student accused him of having drugs, though he had been sharing candy with friends.
His parents filed a lawsuit after failed attempts to learn the identity of the officer and the circumstances surrounding the search. The lawsuit alleged unreasonable search and seizure, excessive force, negligent hiring and supervision, negligence and defamation.
The Mills family announced last week that they planned to drop their lawsuit after the city began cooperating with them. They had reached a settlement with the bus company, Durham D&M, earlier this summer.
Waters said Monday while the police investigation supports the family's claim, they have no wish to pursue litigation and she doesn't believe Scott's constitutional rights were violated.
"The system works," Waters said. "And as an attorney, I'm pretty jaded. I had heard good things about the police chief and they're all true."
Arlette Mills said Tuesday she was "elated" to receive the letters from the city— which had both been written and mailed prior to the family dropping the lawsuit.
"I am glad that somebody got it," Mills said, "and they're going to fix it so it doesn't happen to the next person.
"I basically got an apology, I never thought I would get."
Schultz had written a letter Sept. 7 to the Mills family, indicating the officer had been disciplined in the matter and it would be noted in his permanent record.
"I would like to thank you for bringing this matter to our attention," Schultz wrote. "It is unfortunate that you had an unfavorable experience with a member of the Albuquerque Police Department; however, I would hope that this one incident does not taint your total impression of the department."
Rowland's letter said the investigation was made based on the complaint and an interview by the officer.
"In my opinion, there was no probable cause for a search for drugs, even a minor stop and frisk for drugs," Rowland said. "But I do not believe the officer should be disciplined under these circumstances for an illegal search."
Such a search, he said, would be acceptable on school grounds where the rules are "quite relaxed" on searches of children.
But he recommended that the police— in the future— require reports of all searches, pat downs or any touching of a minor.
The Mills family also had written the city with a similar request.
Rowland's letter also detailed the circumstances of the search.
According to the letter, Llamas was off-duty but driving a marked car. The bus driver— who had driven toward the police car— motioned for him to help her, telling him that two boys had marijuana.
The officer patted down both boys— found no drugs— and removed a case of Tic Tacs from Scott's pocket when he suspected a possible weapon.
A middle school girl riding the bus told the officer the drugs were in the candy case, but the officer determined there were no drugs.

Child Molestation Charges Dropped Against Former Police Officer

Associated Press

AZTEC — Child molestation charges have been dropped against a former Bloomfield police officer because of a lack of evidence, the district attorney's office said.
"The things we had to prove, we didn't think they had the evidence to move forward,'' said Deputy District Attorney Terry Walker.
Joseph Goodman, 54, had been charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one of criminal sexual contact of a minor.
The 11-year-old daughter of a former girlfriend had accused him of touching her inappropriately while the mother was out of town on a family emergency last year, according to court documents.
Goodman resigned from the Bloomfield force in February 2004.
The district attorney's office began its investigation after Goodman's arrest earlier this year, but Walker said the office could not find enough to substantiate the allegations.
"Sometimes there's not sufficient evidence to support (a case),'' she said.
The charges were dropped last month.