Police Chief says Rio Rancho officer was complainant in wine festival incident
Rio Rancho Police Bob Boone spoke with the Rio Rancho Observer on Tuesday to clarify an incident that happened on Sunday at the New Mexico Wine Festival in Bernalillo that involved a Rio Rancho police officer.
According to Boone, John Francis, the public information officer for the Rio Rancho Police Department, was working the festival Sunday in plainclothed for the Sandoval County DWI Initiative. Boone said in the late afternoon, Francis and another plainclothed officer observed what they thought was a domestic dispute between a couple. Francis then signaled for assistance from Bernalillo officers, who were on patrol within their jurisdiction.
Soon after Francis initiated contact with the couple, uniformed Bernalillo officers intervened and, according to Boone, went “hands on” with Francis, and tried to restrain him.
“John indentified himself (as an officer) but the officers didn’t pay attention to it,” Boone said.
After the incident, Francis contacted Bernalillo’s police of chief and asked for a criminal investigation. Boone said the New Mexico State Police is now investigating the incident and he expects a report by the end of the month.
Francis said he could not comment on the incident but said he remains on duty with RRPD. Bernalillo police have not returned several calls.
Boone said Francis was not escorted out of the festival as previously reported by other media outlets.
“He’s the complainant,” he said.
http://www.observer-online.com/articles/2010/09/07/news/breaking_news/doc4c86bedce9b6c919785255.txt
Must be a real slow news day.
Police officer escorted from WHINE festival
There, fixed it for ya.
Oh. Rio Rancho. Nuff said.
Slow news day in Indy, also.