The Albuquerque Police Division’s Fleet Crash Assessment Board, which consists of 4 officers and a civilian, has unanimously deemed a February 17 accident involving Police Chief Harold Medina “non-preventable.” That conclusion, an area TV station experiences, “got some city councilors asking questions” throughout an Albuquerque Metropolis Council assembly on Wednesday evening.
It isn’t laborious to see why. Medina severely injured the motive force of a automotive that he broadsided together with his unmarked, department-issued pickup truck after he ran a purple gentle whereas fleeing an altercation between two pedestrians that escalated into gunfire. He did that two weeks after promising a radical investigation of allegations that Albuquerque cops had for years made DWI circumstances disappear in trade for payoffs. The alleged corruption, which the FBI is investigating, most likely “started decades ago,” Medina mentioned whereas promising to “leave no stone unturned and make sure that we get to the bottom of this.” However his fishy account of the crash has additional undermined public confidence already shaken by the DWI corruption scandal.
Cops who had been known as to the scene of Medina’s accident initially had been puzzled. “Welcome to the shit show,” one officer says to a different in a physique digicam video. “I have no idea what is going on,” says the opposite. However surveillance digicam footage of the crash clarified issues. That video is tough to reconcile with the notion that the collision was unavoidable, and it contradicts the account that Medina gave just a few days afterward. These inconsistencies evidently didn’t faze Medina’s underlings on the Fleet Crash Assessment Board, which suggests he could also be exonerated by inner investigators regardless of his obvious violations of division coverage.
The soundless surveillance video reveals two males combating close to the intersection of Alvarado Drive NE and Central Avenue, a busy, four-lane avenue. Medina and his spouse, who’re on their solution to a Saturday press convention, are ready at a purple gentle on Alvarado Drive, north of Central Avenue. A flock of birds may be seen withdrawing, maybe in response to the gunfire that Medina reported. Then Medina drives via the purple gentle, crossing the westbound lanes of Central Avenue via a niche between two automobiles, forcing one of many drivers to brake abruptly.
At this level Medina is now not within the shooter’s line of fireside. However as an alternative of ready on the median for a break within the eastbound visitors, he barrels via that aspect of the street, colliding with the aspect of a gold 1966 Mustang pushed by 55-year-old Todd Perchert, who’s on his solution to a basic automotive meetup. The collision spins and totals the Mustang, which involves relaxation on the south aspect of Central Avenue.
In a self-exculpating video that Medina recorded after the crash, he says, “I looked to my left, and the intersection was cleared.” That’s plainly not true, since he drove in entrance of a westbound automotive that was getting into the intersection, forcing the motive force to cease all of a sudden to be able to keep away from a collision. As he was crossing the eastbound aspect of Central Avenue, Medina says, “I thought that…the car was going to pass before I got there, and it did not. And unfortunately, I struck the vehicle. The occupant of the other vehicle was injured, and it’s just another sign of how gun violence sometimes impacts our community.”
In keeping with Medina, the crash was triggered not by his personal carelessness however by the hazard he was fleeing. He had taken a detour to take a look at “a homeless encampment on Alvarado north of Central,” planning to name an underling about it. “My wife stated, ‘Look, those two homeless individuals are about to get into a fight,'” he says. “My wife stated, ‘gun, gun.’ I looked up, and I could hear that a shot had been fired, and I saw an individual that was holding a firearm pointing it at another individual who was directly in line with my wife.” Medina determined “the best thing I could do was get my wife out of the way and regroup and see what the best response would be.” As Medina sees it, the gunman triggered the crash.
A February 20 press launch from the Albuquerque Police Division presents the identical take. As Medina and his spouse had been ready on the intersection, it says, they “witnessed two individuals fighting.” They “then saw one of the individuals pull out a gun,” and “shots were fired.” Since “Chief Medina and his wife were in the direct line of fire,” he “took evasive action through the intersection to get his vehicle away from the gunfire.” The official account of what occurred subsequent elides any consideration of Medina’s culpability: “A gold Mustang was traveling eastbound on Central and continued forward as Chief Medina was entering the intersection and the vehicles collided.”
Former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, a former crash investigator, noticed issues otherwise after reviewing the video of the crash. “It’s clear by the video” that Medina’s description of what he did will not be correct, White informed KOAT, the ABC affiliate in Albuquerque. “He cuts off a vehicle immediately. That’s westbound on Central. Had to slam on its brakes. You can see that. And then he bolts across what is potentially one of the busiest roadways in the state of New Mexico and broadsides a car.”
As White sees it, “the chief was not looking” as a result of “he was distracted by something.” He added, “I don’t mean the shooting” as a result of Medina was “already across the intersection” when he collided with Perchert’s automotive.
The Fleet Crash Assessment Board however ratified Medina’s account by deeming the collision “non-preventable.” Metropolis Councilor Louie Sanchez, who unsuccessfully proposed a vote of no confidence in Medina on Wednesday, was skeptical. “If the chief would have made a police action and executed his police powers and made an arrest immediately, we would not have a traffic accident,” Sanchez mentioned. “We would not have an investigation. How can you say that this is not preventable?”
Sanchez was objecting to the narrative that emerged after the crash, which portrayed Medina as a heroic public servant as an alternative of a reckless driver. When he received a name a few taking pictures involving Medina that day, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller informed reporters, he feared the worst. “Fortunately, in this case, I quickly learned he was OK and what happened with the situation,” he mentioned. “And I think first and foremost, I’m grateful our chief is OK.” Overlooking the truth that Perchert undoubtedly was not “OK,” Keller then praised Medina’s braveness and dedication:
The chief of police is arguably an important individual proper now in these occasions, in our metropolis, in our state. And so, what he did right now, I feel, additionally was one thing he does each day and our officers do each day, which is he’s out on the entrance line. He’s doing what he can to make our metropolis secure. And that is really him on a Saturday morning—disrupting an altercation, a taking pictures. Making an attempt to do what’s proper. Making an attempt to guarantee that of us are OK after on scene. That is above and past what you count on from a chief. And I am grateful for Harold Medina.
As Sanchez identified, Medina was not “disrupting an altercation.” By his personal account, he was fleeing the altercation due to the risk it posed to him and his spouse. And whereas Keller claimed Medina was “trying to do what’s right,” “doing what he can to make our city safe,” and “trying to make sure that folks are OK,” Perchert and his spouse, Danielle, understandably had a unique impression.
“I am disappointed in the actions of our police chief and the reaction of Mayor Tim Keller praising the chief’s decisions,” Todd Perchert mentioned at a press convention final week. Perchert, who was taken to an area trauma middle after the crash, suffered a damaged collarbone and shoulder blade, eight damaged ribs, a collapsed lung, lacerations to his left ear and head, and gashes on his face. He underwent seven hours of surgical procedure and was hospitalized for almost per week. “It’s been constant pain since the crash,” he mentioned. “I haven’t driven much since the accident.”
Due to his accidents, Danielle Perchert mentioned, they needed to cancel an anniversary journey for which that they had been saving for 2 years. “We live an active lifestyle,” she mentioned. “We are always doing something. Gardening or working in the yard, hiking, going on long walks with our dogs, traveling. And Todd had even started training to run half marathons again. But now he is in constant pain and has limited mobility. I see on a daily basis his severe pain and the deformity of his left shoulder where the collarbone and shoulder blade are broken.”
Danielle Perchert was dismayed by the official response to the crash. “My husband’s injuries, due to the chief’s reckless disregard for the lives and safety of others, were secondary and blown off as of no concern by the APD spokesperson and the mayor,” she mentioned. Medina “was running away, and my husband [was] injured because he was running away…It still hurts to this day to think about it.”
KOAT notes that “some say officers have been fired for similar conduct.” In 2017, for instance, an Albuquerque police officer “was rushing with lights and sirens to a call of a man armed with a machete when a car pulled out in front of him. The person driving that car died in the crash. The city fired the officer and paid more than $3 million in a civil suit.” In 2013, a 21-year-old girl died after one other Albuquerque officer “sped through a red light at Paseo Del Norte and Eagle Ranch, hitting her car.” The town paid $8.5 million to settle a lawsuit by her household. The officer was convicted of careless driving and sentenced to 90 days in jail.
It is not clear whether or not Albuquerque’s residents will ever see a reliable examination of Medina’s conduct. “Why is this matter being investigated internally?” the Percherts’ legal professional, James Tawney, requested on the press convention. He prompt that the New Mexico State Police (NMSP) ought to examine the crash as an alternative.
At Wednesday’s metropolis council assembly, the native information website ABQ RAW experiences, metropolis directors mentioned “they have now asked State Police to review the case.” The story snarkily provides that “they did not say if they formally asked NMSP to review it or if they were just hoping NMSP [was] watching the council meeting and would be intrigued to look into the crash.”
Along with the doubtful crash board assessment, Superintendent of Police Reform Eric Garcia is conducting an inner affairs investigation. Tom Grover, an area legal professional who represents cops accused of misconduct (together with a former officer implicated within the DWI corruption scandal), sees a number of attainable coverage violations. In an interview with KOAT, “Grover said some of the violations the chief could be in trouble for include having his wife in the car and taking police action, not having his radio turned on and not turning on his lights and siren” when “he ran the red light.”
Medina additionally belatedly activated his physique digicam. “My camera wasn’t on at the beginning of this incident,” he says in his video. “I think that everybody’s been held accountable for cameras, and I wanted to make sure that I was investigated….Did I have time to turn this on? Was it proper for me to have it on before then?”
The police chief, in different phrases, ordered an investigation of his personal conduct. “The city hopes to instill and ensure transparency and accountability,” ABQ RAW observes. “They are doing this by making sure their own department staff looks very hard at this situation.” Garcia, “a 34 year sworn officer who is the hand picked Superintendent of Police,” will “formally request that the Internal Monitor, former Judge Victor Valdez (also hand picked)…review the entire investigation.” James Ginger, who serves as a court-appointed monitor underneath a 2014 settlement settlement with the Justice Division stemming from a use-of-force investigation, additionally is meant to judge Garcia’s work.
“Our processes in Internal Affairs are consistent for every level of officer in the department, including our chief of police,” Garcia informed the town council on Wednesday. “To ensure complete transparency, we are adding multiple layers of review above and beyond what is required in similar situations.”
In a current Albuquerque Journal opinion piece, Antoinette Suina, whose 6-year-old son was killed in a 2017 crash involving an Albuquerque police officer, says Garcia, then the division’s deputy chief, was assigned to the case however didn’t deal with it as an pressing matter. “Based on my experiences, and given Eric Garcia’s apathetic attitude toward our case, I find it hard to believe that he is capable of conducting a fair and impartial investigation into Chief Medina’s accident,” Suina writes. “With Medina’s consistent lack of accountability, and disregard for his own actions which is evidenced by no outside review, there will not be real transparency or significant consequences.”
Final month, the town council narrowly rejected a proposal for an impartial activity pressure to analyze the crash. “I would hope that there is no bias,” Metropolis Councilor Renee Grout, one of many 4 members who favored that proposal, mentioned on the time, “but it appears like there possibly could be.” It does seem like that.