Lawyer: People should be ‘outraged’ (video - NMSP officer shoots, kills driver during traffic stop)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | January 17, 2014 | Andy Stiny

[CedarDave]

Dash-cam video released Thursday shows a State Police officer running toward and alongside the car driven by Jeanette Anaya and firing multiple times into the Honda sedan as he screams expletives and for the occupants to get their hands up.

Anaya’s car did back into officer Oliver Wilson’s cruiser, apparently narrowly missing Wilson himself, but the video shows that the Honda was moving away from Wilson as most of his 16 shots were fired.

Anaya, 39, was hit and killed by two of Wilson’s shots, following a vehicle chase that started when Wilson tried to pull her over for a traffic stop after midnight on Nov. 7.

When the shooting took place, Wilson was outside his patrol car. He had used a bumping maneuver to force her car to stop on Camino Carlos Rey. All within just a few seconds, Wilson gets out of his car, Anaya backs into the cruiser, and Wilson starts shooting at Anaya’s Honda. A passenger in Anaya’s car, Jeremy Munoz, 34, was not injured.

Earlier this week, a Santa Fe County grand jury ruled that Wilson was justified in firing at Anaya and that he will face no criminal charges. Wilson testified he feared for his life when Anaya backed into his police car, according to District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco.

But Tom Clark, attorney for Anaya’s parents, said Thursday that Anaya should have stopped during the car chase but that if Wilson wasn’t wearing a police uniform, he’d be facing a first-degree murder charge now.

Clark said he was “shocked and dismayed” after viewing the video.

“I had no idea it was going to be as bad as it was,” he said. “I didn’t think it would be so dramatic with the officer running alongside shooting point-blank into the car.”

[CedarDave]

Another case of a NM State Police officer using bad judgement following a traffic stop. The video is over 12 minutes long and shows the chase through Santa Fe and Officer Wilson's first stopping the car and then shooting at it. Wilson has been a state police officer for 1 1/2 years.

The dash-cam video shows no obvious erratic driving or traffic violation before Wilson tries to pull Anaya over.

Before being stopped Anaya told the other passenger that she didn't stop because she had an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in Santa Fe Municipal Court on a concealing identify charge that carried a $500 bond.

[CedarDave]

NM list PING!

I may not PING for all New Mexico articles. To see New Mexico articles by topic click here: New Mexico Topics

To see NM articles by keyword, click here: New Mexico Keywords

To see the NM Message Page, click here: New Mexico Messages

(The NM list is available on my FR homepage for anyone to use. Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
(For ABQ Journal articles requiring a subscription, scroll down to the bottom of the page to view the article for free after answering a question or watching a short video commercial.)

[driftdiver]

Well obviously she represented a significant threat to the officer as she drove away.

[cuban leaf]

If she did, in fact, back into his cruiser, narrowly missing him, I’d let him off criminally, but remove him from the position of authority. He doesn’t have the temperament for it.

[pallis]

Cops and guns are a dangerous combination. They have no respect for life or rights.

[onedoug]

And a significant threat to anyone else she may have encountered.

[Arthur McGowan]

Does a day go by nowadays without at least one cold-blooded murder by a cop?

[Veggie Todd]

I’m so glad the cop went home safely.

[driftdiver]

She wasn’t a threat to anyone. 30 years ago people ran from cops all the time for minor infractions. They didn’t get shot.

[DeaconBenjamin]

Soylent Green.

If the car is approaching you, deadly force is appropriate.
If the car is fleeing you, running after the car and using deadly force is excessive.

[cuban leaf]

Well obviously she represented a significant threat to the officer as she drove away.

---

I don’t think he should have done what he did, but she showed the kind of poor decision making skills that could have gotten other people hurt sometime in the future.

I know a guy who’s 48 year old sister has been in prison three times for battery. We’re talking seriously dangerous woman. She sliced most of the scalp of a woman off her head (required over 50 stitches) in a “bar fight” and “****ed up” a couple of males on the other occasions. But she kept getting out after only two of ten years each time. She’s out now and I steer clear of this woman, especially when I’m not armed.

Why mention all the drama? Sometimes a person is just dangerous. And doing what this woman did with her car (assuming that is what happened) makes her potentially dangerous in the future. For all we know that officer may have saved the lives of others in the future. She should have stopped and stayed stopped. It’s on her.

[DeaconBenjamin]

Soylent Green.

If the car is approaching you, deadly force is appropriate.
If the car is fleeing you, running after the car and using deadly force is excessive.

[BenLurkin]

High speed chase, driver tries to run over officer, officer kills driver.

Routine stuff in SoCal.

[LouAvul]

Cops and guns are a dangerous combination. They have no respect for life or rights.

"Canned Heat" had a song back in the 60s called "Pigs." It ended with, "If you're big, strong and stupid, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department wants you."

I think about that song when I read these stories about the retards running around with guns and badges.

[cuban leaf]

She wasn’t a threat to anyone. 30 years ago people ran from cops all the time for minor infractions. They didn’t get shot.

---

For me, the one “mitigating fact” for the officer is that she rammed his car, almost hitting him, before he fired. If she had simply taken off after being stopped, his firing his gun would be utterly ludicrous. It isn’t, if he almost got crushed. It would put him in a different mindset, assuming he is a normally functioning human being.

[CedarDave]

Direct link to YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPyUGG2LDLs

[raybbr]

Hey, attack a car - you attack the cop - even if he’s not in it. He got home safe. That’s all that matters.

[GBA]

Why not take it out on the engine?

A few shots from a standard issue should be enough to put a modern, aluminum block engine out of commission and slow things down enough that a more civilized conversation can take place. Easier to hit, too.

Plus, most cars/engines don't have lawyers and crowds of outraged citizens to rally around after death by cop either.

[dsc]

Don’t police officers have guns in part to shoot people who run?

[wildbill]

“...following a vehicle chase that started when Wilson tried to pull her over for a...[standard NMHP anal probe.]

Not too surprising that NM residents are afraid of police stops considering their recent history of unauthorized anal probes. Call it the “pucker factor.”