State Police Officer Charged With Battery

By Rene Romo, Journal Southern Bureau

LAS CRUCES— City police filed a criminal complaint Monday charging an off-duty State Police officer with aggravated battery for his alleged part in a fight last week.
Nicholas Zepeda, 23, was charged with two felony counts— aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and aggravated battery with intent to commit great bodily harm.
State Police spokesman Lt. Rick Anglada said Zepeda will be placed on administrative duties, pending the outcome of an internal investigation and the criminal case.
Zepeda, stationed in Española, was attending a training class in Las Cruces at the time of the incident, Anglada said.
According to a statement of facts filed in Magistrate Court, a dispute that began at a bar carried over to an apartment complex shortly after 2 a.m. Wednesday. Three men, including Zepeda, were involved in an altercation with Daniel Reyes, 23, of Las Cruces.
Amy Orlando, chief deputy district attorney, said prosecutors are considering filing charges against the two men who were with Zepeda. She said she did not expect charges would be filed against Reyes.
Reyes told an investigator that, as he was leaving the bar, he punched Zepeda because Zepeda allegedly insulted him.
Zepeda and two friends then drove to Reyes' apartment. Zepeda told police that as he approached Reyes, Reyes reached into the bed of his truck, grabbed a beer bottle and smashed it against Zepeda's head. A fight ensued.
Reyes told police he struck Zepeda with a bottle in self-defense after Zepeda and two other men arrived at his apartment complex and rushed him.
A witness told police a man matching Zepeda's description made "two quick stabbing movements" to Reyes' back with what appeared to be a piece of glass. Reyes suffered two puncture wounds to his back.

Police Settle Death Lawsuit

Wednesday, August 2, 2006
By Martin Salazar
Journal Staff Writer

A lawsuit filed over the September 2004 State Police shooting that left a Chimayó man dead has been settled, parties on both sides of the case confirmed Tuesday.
The amount of the settlement— executed in late April— wasn't disclosed.
Leo Lopez, 44, was fatally shot by an undercover State Police narcotics agent during a drug investigation on Sept. 22, 2004. His family filed a wrongful death suit in October 2005 alleging that police failed to identify themselves, that the officer shot Lopez without provocation and that authorities then withheld medical treatment, causing his death.
State Police have said agents identified themselves as police officers when Lopez, who was inside his truck, "aggressively backed up in an apparent attempt to use his vehicle as a weapon against the officers." A State Police officer shot at the driver "while trying to protect himself and others from being severely injured or killed," the agency said.
An investigative grand jury determined in October that the shooting was justified, though the attorney representing the Lopez family has previously said that the grand jury may not have been given all the information in the case.
Plaintiffs attorney Robert Rothstein said he was bound by a confidentiality clause in the settlement and couldn't disclose how much the Lopez family was paid to drop its suit, which had been filed in state district court in Tierra Amarilla.
"My clients were very pleased with the overall settlement and glad to put it behind them," Rothstein said.
A stipulated order of dismissal dropping officer Sean Wallace, who the suit identified as the shooter, and Wallace's former supervisor Roman Jimenez as defendants was filed on April 26. On May 3, a stipulated dismissal order was filed dropping the suit against the remaining defendants— the State Police and the New Mexico Department of Public Safety.
DPS spokesman Peter Olson said he was prohibited by statute from disclosing the settlement amount, but he said the settlement wasn't an admission of wrongdoing by DPS or State Police.
"There are many, many reasons why lawsuits are settled," Olson said. "Among them are expediency and saving taxpayer money for prolonged lawsuits or trials."
Under state law, settlements handled by the state Risk Management Division remain confidential for six months.
Olson said Wallace is still a State Police officer. Jimenez, who had been overseeing the Region III narcotics task force, is now assistant district commander for the State Police district in Deming.
Wallace was named in another 2003 lawsuit alleging excessive force when he worked for State Police in Las Vegas. Wallace had been accused in the suit of battering a man after pulling him over without probable cause. The suit was settled for $19,999 in September 2005.
State Police have refused to confirm that Wallace was indeed the officer who fatally shot Lopez. The agency also has denied multiple requests from the Journal and other media outlets in New Mexico to inspect incident reports from the Sept. 22 shooting that resulted in Lopez's death.
The Journal, Santa Fe New Mexican, Rio Grande Sun and the Albuquerque-based New Mexico Foundation for Open Government filed suit against DPS in August 2005 to get access to the reports. That case is still pending.

Court Limits Schools' Search of Students

By Amy Miller, Journal Staff Writer

Students can't be searched just because a school official has a hunch they have done something illegal, the state Court of Appeals has ruled.
The ruling upheld a district court decision that two Rio Grande High School campus security aides didn't have reasonable suspicion to search a student who was "acting a little nervous" when approached.
The student, identified only as Pablo R., was found in possession of a weapon and drug paraphernalia. The ruling grants the student's request to suppress evidence in his juvenile case.
Assistant Attorney General Arthur Pepin said his office was disappointed.
"We feel the safety concerns the school expressed are legitimate, and it (the ruling) makes it more difficult for the school to provide a safe learning environment," Pepin said.
The decision was filed in April, and the state Supreme Court declined to review it in June.
Assistant Appellate Defender Nancy Hewitt said the court case should not change how schools operate.
The U.S. Supreme Court has established that school officials must have a good reason to suspect that students have violated the law or a school rule before searching them.
That has been Albuquerque Public Schools' policy for several years, APS spokesman Rigo Chavez said.
However, he said APS police officers and campus security aides will be briefed on the decision and others that define reasonable suspicion during annual training sessions.
Peter Simonson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, said the decision does "clarify the rights that students have against unwarranted, unjustifiable searches of their person by school administrators."
"We have such a problem in our public schools with misunderstandings about where students' constitutional rights begin and end," he said.

Reasonable suspicion
The court said school officials don't need a search warrant or even probable cause to search a student's belongings.
But students have a constitutional right to privacy, so "the search of a student must still be reasonable under the circumstances in order to withstand constitutional scrutiny," wrote state Appeals Court Judge Michael Vigil. Judges Cynthia Fry and Ira Robinson concurred.
The court said school officials must have reasonable suspicion based on specific facts, and there must be a connection between what they searched for and what they found.
What reasonable suspicion actually means on school grounds to school officials has been a gray area, legal experts agreed.
"Reasonable suspicion is a standard that inevitably will vary from case to case, depending on the circumstances school officials find themselves in at the time," said Chief Public Defender John Bigelow.
In this case, the student was walking down a Rio Grande High hallway on Dec. 15, 2003, without a pass. He said he had been late to class and been instructed by his teacher to go to the office for a late pass.
A campus security aide stopped him and thought "something was wrong" because he seemed nervous and fidgety.
The student was directed to the security office, where two aides frisked him and searched his jacket. They found a pipe containing what appeared to be marijuana residue and a pair of brass knuckles.
The campus security aide admitted that when he stopped the student, he did not suspect any criminal activity or smell marijuana. He became concerned the student "might have a weapon or anything else like marijuana," because the student appeared nervous.
The Appeals Court said that didn't meet the test to allow a search.
"This was nothing more than a hunch and insufficient as a matter of law to provide reasonable suspicion to conduct the search," Vigil wrote. "Reasonable suspicion must exist at the inception of the search; the State cannot rely on facts which arise as a result of the search, such as the discovery of the weapon and drug paraphernalia on Child."

Officer Involved In Fatal Shooting

By T.J. Wilham And Julie Medina, Journal Staff Writers

An off-duty Albuquerque police officer was involved in a fatal shooting that left his "stepfather," Kirk Carroll, dead in his doorway Tuesday night, police said.
Investigators suspect that Carroll, 48, was struggling with Officer Orlando Camacho for control of the officer's service-issued weapon when it discharged.
Carroll is being described to investigators as Camacho's "stepfather," said John Walsh, an Albuquerque police spokesman.
Walsh said investigators are trying to confirm the information but have yet to find official documents that verify the relationship.
According to tax records, the South Valley home, 1716 Desert Breeze SW, is owned by the two men.
Neighbors said Wednesday that Carroll and Camacho appeared to be father and son.
Camacho wasn't scheduled to work his normal shift and investigators are trying to determine why he was in uniform at the time of the shooting.
Within hours of the shooting, Camacho, a three-year member of the department, was placed on administrative leave and released from police custody. He did give a statement to investigators.
"This case is being investigated just like any other. We are making sure that this investigation is conducted with the utmost integrity," Police Chief Ray Schultz said. "This is not an officer-involved shooting. This is a shooting involving someone who is an officer."
Police said they would submit the investigation to the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office, which will decide whether charges will be filed.
According to police, at 11:05 p.m., Camacho called on his radio that he needed an ambulance and a rescue unit sent to his home for an "emergency situation."
When rescue crews arrived, they found Carroll dead, lying in the doorway.
Investigators said Camacho had just pulled into the driveway in his squad car and within minutes got into an argument with Carroll over "life issues," Walsh said.
Walsh said the dispute had been brewing over a long time.
The argument eventually turned into a struggle for the gun, police said. Investigators don't know if Camacho drew the weapon.
Walsh said tests will be done to determine who was in control of the gun when it fired.
"It is so preliminary in the investigation right now," Walsh said.
Neighbor Christine Shugars said occasionally she could hear Carroll yelling at Camacho.
"He wasn't nice to his son," Shugars said.
She said when she asked Carroll to join the neighborhood association he was "rude" and told her he didn't care what happens in the neighborhood.
"He just flat wasn't the friendliest," she said.
However, Shugars' daughter, Trudy McKenzie, said Camacho is known around the area to be "pretty friendly."
She said when one neighbor came home and found her house had been broken into, Camacho checked out the home to make sure it was safe for her.
Another neighbor, Irene Ornelas, said the two men were frequently outside working on the yard or the home and appeared friendly.
"Whenever we passed by (Carroll) would smile or nod," she said.
None of the neighbors said they heard anything late Tuesday beside fireworks and a lightning storm.
About five hours before the incident, Joshua Thomas was arriving at a friend's home just a few homes away from where the shooting occurred.
As he passed the home, he saw Carroll standing outside, wearing beige pants and a white T-shirt.
"I waved to him," Thomas said. "He waved back."
Camacho was in uniform and driving off in his squad car, Thomas said.
"He didn't look disturbed," he said.

Gary E. Salazar of the Journal contributed to this report.

APD Officer Involved In Fatal Crash

Monday, May 22, 2006
By Miguel Navrot and Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writers

An Albuquerque grandmother sitting at a picnic table with family members died early Sunday after a police car crashed through a cinder-block wall, pinning the 73-year-old against the table.
Flora Aragon had been in the front yard of the family home around midnight, enjoying the cool air and chatting with her daughter and her daughter's boyfriend when the squad car slammed onto the property.

Crash Kills Grandma

Lucas Coshenet/Journal
Shantel Perez looks at the shrine placed in honor of her grandmother Flora Aragon, 73.

The crash killed Aragon and injured the other two.
But it is the police's handling of the crash, which happened on Crestview SW near West Central and 53rd Street, that family members talked about most Sunday.
As they gathered for a candlelight vigil for Aragon, they pointed out the dried blood stains on the picnic table.
"The police department's not telling us anything," said Denise Baker, one of Aragon's 29 grandchildren. "They're not offering condolences. They're being rude to us, like we're the criminals here."
A multi-agency group is investigating the crash, which involved a rookie officer identified as Zachariah Floyd, 23, Albuquerque police spokesman John Walsh said. Much of that investigation is expected to be completed this week.
"This is a tragedy, just an absolute tragedy," Walsh said Sunday. "The officer is extraordinarily upset over the events and, obviously, so, too, is the family of the victim."
The crash happened as police answered a domestic violence call in the West Side neighborhood.
Floyd, responding to the call, was preparing to park his squad car when another vehicle veered alongside, Walsh said. Floyd steered sharply, struck a curb and drove through the 2-foot high cinder-block fence.
The impact struck Aragon from behind, family said, pinning her between the car and the wooden picnic table.
The crash also injured her daughter Tonnie Sanchez, 52, of Albuquerque and Sanchez's boyfriend, Ismael Villalobo, 39.
Rescuers took Aragon to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
An inter-agency team composed of Albuquerque police, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office and State Police is investigating the crash, Walsh said.
The local District Attorney's Office is expected to oversee and review the investigation.
Floyd is on three-day paid administrative, pending the investigation, Walsh said.
Neither alcohol nor speed appears to have been a factor in the crash, Walsh said. Authorities took breath and blood tests from Floyd after the crash.
"We've done breath tests and a blood draw, which is standard on all fatals," Walsh said. "In any event, neither of the two factors appears to have been present at the onset of this investigation. It is, however, still ongoing."
Walsh noted that the airbags on Floyd's cruiser didn't deploy. A deployed airbag can indicate high speed.
Walsh said it is "very unlikely" Floyd will face a vehicular homicide charge. He added that, for such a case to be made, the driver must either have been intoxicated or driving recklessly at the time of the crash.
Aragon's family disputed the contention that Floyd wasn't driving recklessly. The cinder-block wall that was toppled in the crash was reinforced with metal rebar, family said.
Further, they said, flying debris punched at least two holes in the home, one through an exterior wall and another through the wood door.
"We left this here because it tells a story," Baker said of the blood-stained picnic table, which authorities cut through to extract Aragon.
Baker said another granddaughter of Aragon's who arrived at the home after the accident was tackled by police after she started taking photos of the scene. Officers confiscated the camera and hadn't returned it as of Sunday night, Baker said.
"We feel the cops are covering up the incident a little bit," Baker said. Other family members agreed.
Baker did have compliments, however, for a violent crimes detective who personally offered flowers, condolences and assistance with memorial services.
On Sunday, as debris and fallen plants covered the crash site, family placed fresh flowers and photographs of Aragon next to the shattered picnic table. Photos included snapshots and portraits from when she was 10 years old through this past New Year's.
Aragon came to Albuquerque in 1965 from Del Norte, Colo., a town in the San Luis Valley. She had six children.
A parishioner of St. Therese of the Little Flower Church, Aragon retired as an inspector for Honeywell in Albuquerque, family said.
Services are pending.

Birthday plans end in fatal crash

by Megan Arredondo
Tribune Reporter
Sunday, May 21, 2006

It was just after midnight, and 74-year-old Flora Aragon was getting ready to bake a birthday cake for a granddaughter who was turning 10 that day.

Aragon sat at a wooden picnic table early Sunday in her front lawn at 5208 Crestview Place S.W. with daughter Tonnie Sanchez and her daughter's friend Ismael Villalobo, the eggs and cake decorations in front of her.

She never got to make the cake.

Albuquerque police Officer Zachariah Floyd, 23 and a rookie of less than a year, crashed his cruiser through a low cinder-block wall surrounding Aragon's home and into the three.

Sanchez, 52, said she and Villalobo were thrown several yards.

Her mother was not so lucky.

The vehicle hit her from behind and pinned her against the picnic table and bench.

"My mom didn't even see it coming," Sanchez said.

Aragon died after being transported to University of New Mexico Hospital, police said.

John Walsh, spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said Floyd was responding to a domestic violence call in the 200 block of 53rd Street Southwest when the crash occurred.

Floyd was traveling south on 53rd Street and was passing another southbound vehicle when the other driver turned left, into his path, Walsh said.

It forced Floyd to veer into Aragon's yard, Walsh said.

The officer did not have emergency lights or sirens on when the crash occurred, but that is common practice when approaching a domestic violence disturbance, Walsh said.

While the investigation continues, it doesn't appear Floyd was speeding because his car's air bag did not inflate in the crash, Walsh said. Floyd was not injured in the crash, Walsh said.

Sanchez said Floyd didn't immediately try to help her or her mother.

"I laid there on that (patio) floor in pain for 45 minutes before anyone came to me," Sanchez said. "It took them forever."

Walsh, however, said rescue units arrived within four minutes of the call.

Sanchez suffered lacerations on her leg and thigh and required stitches for a cut on her arm. Villalobo had minor cuts on his head, lip and back, she said.

Meanwhile, Aragon remained pinned in front of her home.

Family members say emergency respondents didn't come prepared, lacking equipment that could've expedited the rescue.

"They were yanking her (Aragon) by the arm," said Eva Marie Candelaria, one of Aragon's grandchildren.

Emergency workers eventually cut apart the wooden table that pinned her, Candelaria said.

On Sunday afternoon, more than half a day after the crash, pieces of the table and bench still lay in front of the house like a bloodied jigsaw puzzle. Broken cinder block was strewn across the front yard, some of the pieces marked with dried blood.

A makeshift memorial of flowers, candles and photographs were placed amid the rubble where Aragon was trapped.

"She was a wonderful person," son Alvin Aragon said. "A wonderful mother."

His mother built the bench and table set she was pinned against, he said, along with the wooden fences on the side of her home.

Granddaughter Denise Baker said Aragon lived for her family.

"Life without one of her kids was not life," Baker said. "Family was everything."

She said she was devastated when she got the phone call that her grandmother had died.

"I could feel everything in my body leave," she said wearing a T-shirt stained with her grandmother's blood. "We were all in shock; it still hasn't settled in. We're still waiting for her to get up."

The most upsetting part for Baker and other family members was the way police treated them, she said.

Baker said police confiscated a camera one family member was using to photograph the crash scene.

She also said police called in the crash as "bravo," meaning injuries were minor, rather than "delta," which meant there were serious injuries. As a result, Baker said, the emergency crew was unprepared for what it found.

"Who's to say what would've happened if it was done properly," Baker said. "They were more concerned about getting the officer, who didn't have any injuries, out."

Walsh said Albuquerque police don't differentiate when they report a wreck with injuries.

A second officer arrived at the scene shortly after the crash and called for aid, Walsh said. "You couldn't have any faster response" than occurred, he said.

Walsh said the crash is under investigation by a team consisting of representatives from the Police Department, State Police, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department and the District Attorney's Office.

Floyd has been put on paid administrative leave for 72 hours while the investigation is being conducted, he said.

Baker said the family is looking for an apology from the Police Department.

"We want some respect," she said. "They took her life and walked away like they did nothing wrong. . . . They're supposed to be there to serve and protect. Well, they didn't serve and protect her."

Ex-Cop Gets 15 Years in Assaults

By Scott Sandlin , Journal Staff Writer

Ex-cop Christopher Chase, a man who once put people in handcuffs, saw them slipped on his wrists by court officers Thursday after he was sentenced to the maximum possible penalty— 15 years behind bars.
Despite his attorney's request for voluntary surrender, Chase was taken into custody as soon as the sentencing hearing ended— to wails from his family.
Chase, 31, an Albuquerque Police Department officer fired after his indictment on multiple sexual assault and kidnapping charges in June 2003, entered a plea in February acknowledging he could be convicted if he went to trial. The so-called Alford plea was to 10 counts of criminal sexual penetration, kidnapping and other crimes related to six victims.
District Judge Denise Barela Shepherd then found him guilty.
But Chase and family members speaking on his behalf continued to insist his innocence and said he took the plea only to provide some resolution for his young family. His daughters, ages 1 and 4, and his wife, Darla, appeared at the hearing as they have for virtually every court event in the longstanding case.
His wife, who said there were mistakes in the investigation, emotionally threw her arms around Chase before he was ordered to prison.
A succession of victims also offered emotional evocations of their experiences with Chase, whom they never knew before their official encounters with him. The women, some of whom were high school teens at the time the crimes were committed, spoke of the lasting effects of the assaults on them and their families.
Veronica Edwell, pulled over by Chase for an alleged traffic infraction and assaulted, and Marissa Senigo, who was 16 when she was pulled over by Chase in 2002, said they fear police when they see them.
Prosecutor Michael Fricke, urging the maximum penalty, said Chase had figuratively raped the city as well as the individual victims.
Detective Monte Curtis said that, until he investigated, he would never have believed a police officer capable of the assaults. Chase has eroded years of work building relations between police and the community, he said.
Defense attorney Jacquelyn Robins urged Shepherd to sentence Chase to five years in prison and 20 years probation. As an ex-cop, she said, her client will have to remain in protective custody— meaning 23 hours a day in his cell.
She said Chase took the plea despite his desire for a trial because, if he'd been convicted of even one set of incidents in the indictment, he could have faced an even longer sentence.