Tag Archives: Jeremy Dear

Civil Liberties, Drug War, Government Accountability, Police Accountability, US, Videos

Albuquerque Cop Accused Of Beating Suspect While Body Camera Was Turned Off

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Albuquerque, NM- The Albuquerque Police Department is under scrutiny once again due to another one of its officers being accused of not using a body camera while on duty.

Earlier this month, APD Chief Gorden Eden revealed in a YouTube video that an internal affairs investigation had been launched regarding “possible misconduct” and “excessive use of force” involving two APD officers. Additional information has identified the suspect and the APD employees involved in the incident.

Albuquerque Officer Cedric Greer, 24, has been charged with aggravated battery for allegedly punching a suspect repeatedly during an arrest. The incident was reported to APD’s training staff by a cadet, identified by the Albuquerque Journal as Andrew Henry, who was present at the scene.

Henry, Greer and another officer, Jerry Rauch, were called to a motel on March 20th to assist a “down and out” male. The “down and out” male, Adrian Marthell, was found on the second floor of the motel highly intoxicated.

Marthell was escorted downstairs. A patdown was conducted, and Marthell was found with a small amount of marijuana. While Rauch went to his vehicle, Greer and Henry stayed with Marthell. The arrest warrant affidavit claims that Greer caught Marthell looking at Henry and ordered him to “stop looking at” the cadet and to “look at the f**king ground.”

The affidavit goes on to claim that Greer grabbed Marthell and shoved him down to the ground and into a prone position with Marthell’s left shoulder and left side of his head on the pavement. Greer then allegedly grabbed Marthell by his jacket and struck him twice in on the right side of his head “causing the left side of his head to bounce off of the pavement.” 

According to the affidavit, Greer continued to assault Marthell. The officer allegedly held the Marthell by his left arm and struck him twice in his rib cage before wrenching his arm upward and repeatedly asking Marthell “who’s the man?” until Marthell “responded in obvious pain, ‘you are the man’.”

Rauch returned to the scene and helped Greer place Marthell in restraints; the affidavit claims that Greer and Rauch proceeded to turn their lapel cameras on and were “courteous” to Marthell once the cameras were activated. APD’s policy requires the use of body cameras for most public interactions.

The lapel camera allegedly showed “large red blotches which appeared to be abrasions” on the left side of Marthell’s face. The affidavit reported that the officers did not report to supervisors that force had been used.

An eyewitness was reportedly interviewed who said he was 20 feet away from the officers and Marthell and had clearly seen Greer striking a man laying on the ground. According to the affidavit, interviews with officers and the witness indicated that Marthell was cooperative and not threatening to any of the officers during the encounter.

KOB News4 reports that the APD is investigating the glaring differences between the arrest warrant affidavit and the criminal complaint against Marthell. The complaint, written by Rauch, provides very few details and does not mention use of force, Rauch walking to his vehicle, or lapel cameras being turned on in the middle of the encounter.

Rauch has not yet faced any charges; Greer is charged with misdemeanor aggravated battery. According to the Albuquerque Journal, there was a clerical error that cause Greer to first be charged with a felony; a Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office clarified that Greer is charged with a misdemeanor. A felony charge would allow the APD to immediately fire Greer.

Both Greer and Rauch are on administrative leave.

The allegations against Greer are similar to those made against another APD officer, Jeremy Dear. Dear had been allegedly involved in three use-of-force incidents in which Dear did not have his body camera turned on. One of those incidents involved a fatality: Dear shot and killed Mary Hawkes during a foot chase in April 2014 and admitted in an interview that he knew his camera was not on during the chase. Dear, who was fired by Eden last December, has appealed his termination and wants his job back.

Civil Liberties, Police Accountability, Politics, US

Albuquerque Officials Block Journalists Filming Public Hearing For Former Cop

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Albuquerque, NM- A public personnel meeting for fired Albuquerque police officer Jeremy Dear was scheduled for Wednesday, but the meeting was postponed because hearing officer Patrick Bingham and city deputy attorney Kathy Levy opposed to being filmed on camera by local media.

Dear was fired last December for “insubordination and untruthfulness” as it was revealed that there were multiple occasions where Dear had failed to keep his body camera turned on while on duty. Dear has been under scrutiny for months due to the fact that he shot and killed 19-year-old Mary Hawkes during a foot chase in April 2014 and his assigned body camera failed to document the incident.

Dear believes he was wrongly terminated and appealed his termination. The former officer was set to explain to the personnel board why he should get his job back when Bingham objected to the presence of video recording and said that audio recording and note-taking were the only acceptable means of documenting the meeting.

“First of all, I don’t want to be depicted. I don’t think it’s anybody’s business what I look like or who I am. I’ve been doing this for a long period of time, there’s plenty of people who are probably upset with what I’ve done in the past. There’s probably people that are happy. I don’t want to be in that kind of position,” Bingham said.

City deputy attorney Kathy Levy said that “it’s been our position that city witnesses do not wish to be depicted on camera. And I do not wish to for the reasons [Bingham] stated.”

Bingham also expressed concern that video would cause inaccurate testimony from witnesses. According to the Albuquerque Journal, all of the witnesses are police officers. Bingham said,

“The problem with videotaping that I have is if witnesses are videotaped there’s a possibility that their testimony might be influenced one way or another.”

Both Dear and his attorney, Tom Grover, supported video recording of the hearing.

“I think other people would probably say it’s pure hypocrisy,” Grover told local news station KRQE. “If you’re being up front and you’re being truthful, and transparent, you shouldn’t be afraid of any sunlight or camera recording about what’s going on.”

Paul Sigurdson, a journalist for local news station KOB, told Bingham that  “You’re in violation of my First Amendment rights.”

The meeting has been postponed until the city can determine if video recording will be allowed.

Politics, US

Former APD Officer Jeremy Dear Interview: Camera Was Unplugged, Not An Internal Error

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Albuquerque, NM- The Albuquerque Journal obtained audio of the interview conducted with former APD Officer Jeremy Dear two days after he fatally shot Mary Hawkes last April. The audio reveals that Dear said he realized that his lapel camera was unplugged immediately after he fired shots at Hawkes.

“I remember at the end, I was like oh (expletives)- my camera, it was unplugged,” Dear said. “I’ve had problems with it in the past. It comes unplugged and it won’t record.”

The Albuquerque Journal reported that Dear said he had told himself “Oh, I’m going to be in trouble for this.”

“I was scared to death. I don’t think I’ve ever been more scared in my life,” Dear also said in the interview. “I was afraid to die. I didn’t want to die. I have a girlfriend that I love very much. I have my 6-year-old son. I wanted to go home.”

The Albuquerque Police Department has never publicly acknowledged that Dear’s camera was unplugged before and during his pursuit of 19-year-old Hawkes, a suspected car thief. In a press conference held on April 23rd, two days after the shooting, Albuquerque Police Chief Gordon Eden said that footage of the chase and subsequent shooting could not be retrieved from Dear’s lapel camera and that the camera was being sent to the manufacturer for technical and forensic analysis.

When asked “Does that mean he [Dear] did or did not start it?” Eden responded, “That’s information we don’t know, that’s why we sent it to the experts to have them do a technical and forensic analysis of the on-body camera system.” Someone in the conference asked Eden “What does Officer Dear say to that question, I’m sure he’s been asked that?” Eden answered that “There are still witnesses that need to be interviewed, and hopefully we will know more information as this investigation continues.”

Taser International Inc., the camera’s manufacturer, stated in its analysis of Dear’s camera last year that the device had turned on and off several times late in the evening of April 20th through the early hours of April 21st: “Before the incident, the camera was powered on around 11:15 p.m. on April 20, then went off around 11:30 p.m., recording once. It was turned on again shortly after midnight, and went off again around 4 a.m., recording three times. It was turned on again around 4:15 a.m. and turned off a minute later without recording anything.”  

Dear’s partner at the time of the shooting, Tanner Tixier, was also interviewed. Tixier was asked if Dear recorded the shooting, and he said “I know he did not.”

“According to him, and this has happened before, I think, when he got out of the vehicle to go on a foot chase, that cord unplugged itself from the battery pack, which completely made his camera inoperable,” Tixier said.

In order to turn on the camera, Dear needed to push a button on the battery. According to The Albuquerque Journal, he said that he pushed the button as he was exiting his vehicle but he didn’t hear it beep so he was aware that it was not recording. “But I was more concerned about watching her running,” Dear said.

Dear was reportedly asked why his camera wasn’t turned on before chasing Hawkes, and he answered that the shooting, which occurred at around 5 a.m., was close to the end of his shift and had been worried about preserving battery life.

Dear shot and killed Mary Hawkes on April 21st, 2014 after Hawkes was allegedly spotted by police driving a truck that had been reported stolen April 10th. Hawkes allegedly abandoned the truck and was running from police when she was confronted by Dear before he shot her three times. According to the autopsy report on Hawkes, all three shots were fired from a downward trajectory. A report from the Office of the Medical Examiner stated that Hawkes suffered “seven blunt-force injuries” on her body “including on each knee, the top of her forehead, each forearm, her chest and back of her right hand.”

Dear said in his interview that while he was chasing Hawkes, he yelled “Stop” and she looked at him, making eye contact, before turning toward Dear. Dear said that Hawkes was about 5 feet away from him when she turned and pointed a gun at him. “She says, ‘don’t, don’t,’” Dear said. “I draw my gun out and come up on her and say, ‘Drop it, drop it.’ She doesn’t drop it, and I’m focused on the gun and I start firing my gun until she drops.”

Dear has claimed body camera errors in the past. In January 2013, Dear was accused of hitting a 22-year-old suspect “several times in his facial area with a closed fist.” Dear’s camera was not on at the time, and his partner’s camera had captured the beginning of the fight and its aftermath. In February 2013, a man filed a complaint accusing Dear of using excessive force during a traffic stop. The man alleged that Dear pulled him out of his vehicle and kicked him in the genitals. Dear denied the accusations and claimed that the battery on his body camera died after he pulled the man over.

Dear had also been accused of giving conflicting information in a wrongful death suit stemming from an APD-involved shooting in 2011. APD officer Sean Wallace had shot and killed Alan Gomez, a suspect in a hostage situation. Dear had been at the scene of the shooting, and there was audio of Dear telling an investigator that he was unable to see Gomez’s hands before he was shot.

Dear was fired last December for “insubordination and untruthfulness” according to a statement from Eden, but did not directly cite the shooting of Hawkes as the primary reason for termination. Dear has appealed Eden’s decision.

 

Last updated February 10th, 2015, 2:44 p.m.

Featured, Police Accountability, Police State, Politics, US

Two Albuquerque Officers Charged With Murder Of Homeless Camper

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Albuquerque, NM- Albuquerque officers Dominique Perez and Keith Sandy were charged with murder on Monday in the shooting of homeless camper James Boyd.

Boyd, who had been accused by police of illegally camping in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, was ultimately shot and killed by Sandy and Perez, a SWAT team member, on March 16th, 2014 during a standoff lasting several hours. The shooting provoked national criticism of the Albuquerque Police Department after video was released that appeared to show Boyd, who was in possession of two small knives, surrendering just before he was shot by Sandy and Perez. The video is available below (graphic content):

Audio from Sandy’s dash camera had also been released of Sandy’s conversation with State Police Officer Chris Ware regarding Boyd from the scene of the standoff before the shooting:

Sandy: What do they have you guys doing here?

Ware: I don’t know. The guy asked for state police.

Sandy: Who asked?

Ware: I don’t know.

Sandy: For this f***ing lunatic? I’m going to shoot him in the penis with a shotgun here in a second.

Ware: You got uh, less-lethal?

Sandy: I got…

Ware: The Taser shotgun?

Sandy: Yeah. Ware: Oh, I thought you guys got rid of those?

Sandy: ROP’s got one…here’s what we’re thinking, because I don’t know what’s going on, nobody has briefed me…

The APD denied that Sandy said “I’m going to shoot him in the penis with a shotgun here in a second” and claimed he had said “I’m going to shoot him with a Taser shotgun in a second”. However, the APD’s denial conflicted with Sandy’s acknowledgement to investigators that he had made the “shoot him in the penis” remark as a joke. “Just kind of locker room banter,” Sandy had told investigators. “[I] just told him, you know, ‘don’t worry; I’ll shoot him in the pecker with this and call it good.’”

Sandy abruptly recanted that admission after a break during the interview.

Second District Attorney Kari Brandenburg said Monday that Perez and Sandy each face one open murder count. In an open murder charge, prosecutors may push for either first-degree or second-degree murder charges.

According to the Albuquerque Journal, the case was not brought before a grand jury and Brandenburg “filed the counts via criminal information, which allows her to charge the officers without presenting evidence to a grand jury.” The FBI is currently investigating the shooting, but it’s unknown if the officers will face federal charges.

Albuquerque has become well known for excessive force used by police. In May of last year, more than 40 residents effectively shut down a city council meeting and attempted to serve Police Chief Gorden Eden with a warrant for a citizen’s arrest while calling for the APD to stop its violent tactics. APD Officer Jeremy Dear was fired last month for repeatedly refusing to use his body camera; in the last instance of Dear either failing to turn on or disabling his camera, he had fatally shot 19-year-old Mary Hawkes.

A Justice Department letter from April 2014 informed the APD- that had killed 23 people and wounded 14 over a four-year period- that its department “engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force, including deadly force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment” and the Justice Department later demanded reforms to correct the APD’s practices. Last October, the Justice Department and APD reached an agreement to engage in “wide-ranging reforms”.

 

Police State, Politics, US

Albuquerque Police Chief Fires Cop, Who Fatally Shot Woman, for Refusing to Turn on Body Camera

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The Albuquerque, NM Police Department came under fire back in April of this year when a Department of Justice investigation concluded that its officers had been engaging in a pattern of excessive force. As Reason notes, the 500,000 person city has suffered 41 officer-involved shootings, 27 of which were fatal, over the past four years alone, including a highly-publicized caught-on-video incident in which officers fatally shot homeless camper James Boyd, who appeared to pose no threat to police at the time.

In February of this year, Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry appointed Gorden Eden, who promised to clean up the department in advance of the DOJ’s investigation, to the position of police chief. Now, Reuters is reporting that Chief Eden has fired Albuquerque Police Officer Jeremy Dear for four incidents in which he allegedly either refused to turn on or disabled his body camera. As the above-embedded video by KOAT-7 notes, Dear is the third officer to be fired by Chief Eden since he took over as head of the Albuquerque Police Department.

In one of the incidents, which, according to Annabelle Bamforth at BenSwann.com, led to the investigation into his use of body cameras and took place on April 21, Officer Dear’s camera had been disabled before he fatally shot 19-year-old Mary Hawkes, who was allegedly attempting to flee police on foot. Officer Dear claimed that Mary Hawkes pointed a gun at him prior to the fatal shooting. In another incident, Dear’s camera was reportedly disabled when he was involved in a brawl with a suspect in January of 2013. A citizen also accused Dear of kicking him in the groin during a February 2013 traffic stop. Once again, the officer’s camera was disabled.

Albuquerque police officers are required to wear body cameras, but, according to Albuquerque Journal, the DOJ investigation concluded that police were violating the policy without facing consequences. Chief Eden’s firing of Officer Dear appears to be an attempt to give teeth to the department’s policy requiring body cameras during all interactions with citizens.

Officer Dear claims that his body camera malfunctioned during the aforementioned incidents. His lawyer Thomas Grover calls Dear’s firing unfair and says that Chief Eden is just trying to use his dismissal as a way to get officers to follow the body camera policy. “If they fire every officer who doesn’t turn on his uniform camera, they won’t have anyone left on the department,” said Grover, describing an environment of rampant insubordination. Grover worries that officers will now be fired when their body cameras malfunction and is appealing Dear’s dismissal.

Chief Eden issued a statement on the incident, which said, “Insubordination tears at the fabric of public safety especially when the officer makes a choice not to follow a lawful order… In imposing the discipline of termination, I considered the seriousness of the acts and omissions, aggravating circumstances and Officer Dear’s disciplinary record.”

US

APD Investigation Continues After Officer Who Shot 19-Year-Old Claimed Third Body Camera Error

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Albuquerque, NM- The Albuquerque Police Department is under scrutiny again after an investigation of APD officer Jeremy Dear revealed that his body camera malfunctioned for a third time while on duty. During his camera’s latest malfunction in April 2014, Dear shot a 19-year-old woman who was on the run after being suspected of driving a stolen truck.

Dear shot and killed Mary Hawkes on April 21st of this year after pursuing her her on foot. Hawkes had allegedly abandoned the stolen truck and was fleeing from police when she was confronted by Dear before he shot her three times.

In Hawkes’ autopsy report it was found that all three shots were fired from a downward trajectory. The Office of the Medical Examiner’s report also stated that Hawkes suffered “seven blunt-force injuries” on her body “including on each knee, the top of her forehead, each forearm, her chest and back of her right hand.”

Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden said that there was “preliminary evidence” that suggested she may have pulled a out a handgun and pointed it at Dear. Eden said that a .32 caliber semiautomatic handgun was found near Hawkes’ body.

Hawkes had a troubled history, including previous run-ins with police dating back to when she was 15. A toxicology report released in May showed she was under the influence of meth before the shooting and there were multiple drugs found in her system.

It was soon discovered that Dear’s body camera had not captured the incident. Technicians were unable to retrieve any footage of the shooting. Cameras worn on other officers contained footage of the wake of the incident.

Taser International Inc., the company that makes the cameras, stated in its report of Dear’s camera that it had turned off and on several times on the evening of April 20th through the early hours of April 21st: “Before the incident, the camera was powered on around 11:15 p.m. on April 20, then went off around 11:30 p.m., recording once. It was turned on again shortly after midnight, and went off again around 4 a.m., recording three times. It was turned on again around 4:15 a.m. and turned off a minute later without recording anything.”

The report also stated that Dear’s camera had a damaged cable but the camera itself was completely functional. It was missing a clip that helps prevent the camera from disconnecting from the battery.

The April shooting was not the first time that Dear’s body camera failed to capture an incident.

In January 2013, Dear had responded to a brawl occurring in town and had struck “(a 22-year-old suspect) several times in his facial area with a closed fist,” according to his description of the event. His camera was not on at the time, and his partner’s camera had captured the beginning of the fight and its aftermath.

In February 2013, a man was pulled over by Dear for speeding. The man later filed a complaint accusing Dear of using excessive force. The man alleged that Dear had pulled him out of his vehicle and kicked him in the genitals. Dear denied the accusations and claimed that the battery on his body camera died after he pulled the man over.

Dear had also been caught giving conflicting information in a wrongful death suit stemming from an APD-involved shooting in 2011. APD officer Sean Wallace had shot and killed Alan Gomez, a suspect in a hostage situation. Dear had been at the scene of the shooting, and there was audio of Dear telling an investigator that he was unable to see Gomez’s hands before he was shot.

In a deposition months later, Dear said that he’d seen something large, possibly a gun, in Gomez’s hand. As it turned out, Gomez had been unarmed, according to a report from the Department of Justice that stated “Gomez was unarmed and did not pose an immediate risk of death or serious bodily harm to the individuals in the house or officers when he was shot.” It has not been reported that Dear was investigated for giving conflicting information.

APD spokeswoman Janet Blair stated that Dear is on desk duty while a  criminal and internal investigation continues.

The Justice Department criticized APD’s long-term use of excessive violence in an April report that read “based on our investigation, we have reasonable cause to believe that APD engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force, including deadly force, in violation of the Fourth  Amendment and Section 14141.”

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