Commentary:
It is possible for two conflicting facts to both be true.
It is a fact that crime is increasing in Las Cruces. We need to help Police Chief Jeremy Story recruit more officers and then do a better job of honoring and supporting those officers once they are on duty.
It is also a fact that there have been an alarming number of incidents in which Las Cruces Police officers used lethal or near-lethal force in circumstances that would not seem to have required it.
The Dona Ana County Chapter of the NAACP is requesting that the state Attorney General’s Office investigate what it says is a pattern of civil rights abuses by police against minorities.
“It breaks my heart that the first instinct is to kill,” Chapter President Bobbie Green said during a recent community radio interview prior to the MLK Day march, rally and breakfast.
Three Las Cruces Police officers have faced criminal charges for their use of deadly force. Christopher Smelser was charged with murder in the death of Antonio Valenzuela, even though the neck restraint he used was approved at that time. That case was dismissed mid-trial. The city would go on to settle with Semlser for $225,000. That’s on top of the $6.5 million paid to the family of Valenzuela.
Officer Felipe Hernandez has been charged with murder in the death of Teresa Gomez, an unarmed woman who was shot three times as she was trying to drive away. The city reached a $20 million settlement with her family.
Officer Bradley Lunsford was indicted by a grand jury of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Presley Eze, a black man who had allegedly stolen a can of beer from a convenience store. Eze was shot three times in the back of the head at point-blank range after he allegedly took the officer’s taser. His sisters have filed a lawsuit against the city. It remains to be seen how much that settlement will cost taxpayers.
The payouts don’t end there. The city reached a $2.75 million settlement with the family of Amelia Baca, a confused 85-year-old Spanish-speaking woman who was shot twice by Police Officer Jared Cosper when she refused to immediately comply with angry commands that she didn’t understand.
“It’s only going to get worse. There are still some high-profile cases pending,” Green said. “There was a young man who was shot 12 times. He lived, but he’s crippled for life. And his vehicle was shot at … there were 109 rounds, right there down the street from the police station. This was an unarmed black man.”
He is being represented by the same lawyer who handled the Rodney King case, Green said.
The NAACP is requesting a citizens’ police oversight committee, a proposal that City Council members have previously considered and rejected. Similar committees have had mixed results in other communities. At best, they can serve as part of the solution.
My instinct and experience tells me the Las Cruces Police Department is not inherently racist, but my mirror tells me I am in no position to make that determination.
I don’t know if there is a pattern of abusive policing. Sometimes bad things happen all at once for no apparent reason. And, as we consider the issue, we have to also keep in mind Jonah Hernandez, a Las Cruces Police officer who was killed in the line of duty.
But I can’t help but wonder how many streets we could have fixed or homes we could have built with all those millions of dollars lost in legal settlements.
Walter Rubel’s opinions are his own and do not necessarily reflect the views of KRWG Public Media or NMSU. Walter Rubel can be reached at waltrubel@gmail.com.