Posted on 04/07/2023 1:44:35 PM PDT by CedarDave
Farmington police responding to an argument went to the wrong house Wednesday night and shot and killed the homeowner when he came to the door with a gun in his hand.
New Mexico State Police spokesman Ray Wilson said officers “mistakenly” went to the home of 52-year-old Robert Dotson and killed him before shooting at his wife in a neighborhood near the Animas River.
Wilson said Dotson’s wife fired back at police from the doorway and officers shot at her but missed. Wilson added, “Once she realized that the individuals outside the residence were officers, she put the gun down and complied with the officer’s commands.”
Shanice Gonzales, a spokeswoman for the Farmington Police Department, said three officers who were “directly involved” have been put on administrative leave.
Gonzales said the call police were initially to be responding to was for a “verbal argument” and nobody was injured or detained in that incident. She did not say how the address mix-up occurred.
By Friday morning the incident had made national news and a Facebook video posted by Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe garnered hundreds of comments from those criticizing the officers, demanding Hebbe’s resignation and talking about what a good man Dotson, a father, was.
In the video Hebbe said it was “a very dark day” for the department.
“What I will tell you, as the chief, is this is an extremely traumatic event and that I am just heartbroken by the circumstances surrounding this,” he said. “Mr. Dotson was not the subject of the call that our officers were responding to and this ending is just unbelievably tragic. I am extremely sorry that we are in this position.”
He added, “There is nothing I can say that will make this better.”
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
An innocent man was murdered because a verbal argument was taking place in the area??
This happens all too often. There needs to be harsh penalties for this stuff. Taking an innocent life because you did not confirm the address is unforgivable.
Thanks for the NM update! I lived there near Tesuque Pueblo in the 1970s. From what you describe, this is NM Gov’t sponsered medieval feudalism. Where they steal (taxes) from the local oil drilling/producing companies. In order to fund the Government’s harebrained greenie crony’s schemes and to feather the nests of the Gov’t workers. As in all other citizens can eat sh____.
Though I will say that solar farms can work in New Mexico (dry and sunny) if they can effectively hook into the grid. Unlike solar in Minnesota, New York and New Hampshire.
Oh yeah, back the blue...sure we should.
“An innocent man was murdered because a verbal argument was taking place in the area??”
Verbal Arguments are extremely dangerous and life threatening. With all those Pronouns and vulgarity flying around without discretion.
“I wonder if the rendered aid after they shot him.”
~~~~~~~
Depends upon how many pieces they blew him into, I suppose.
Good for NM. Qualified immunity along with civil asset forfeiture are the two worst legal concepts in the USA
I’m kind of surprised that the story is (apparently) balanced, I’m surprised that they didn’t kill them both and then pile up all the weapons and ammo, knives, baseball bats etc. on the property and invite the media in to take photos and write a sensationalistic article on how they thwarted a terrorist act.
Something similar happened in maryland a while back except the innocent homeowner shot and wounded two cops. He was released immediately.
Simply wrong. What you could have said was "The officers involved have been charged and are awaiting trial". That would have made it better.
frankly, we live out a bit, and if someone knocked on our door in the middle of the night, my husband would bring a gun and I would want him to...that or let me answer the door with him off to the side ready to shoot.
Patrick Tuttle and Rhogena Nichols, Houston.
The cops claim they identified themselves as police, but the fact that an innocent homeowner did not know who they were, and the wife started firing, but stopped when she saw they were police, shows that they did not adquately identify themselves to the homeowner.
That seem to be common thing in these kinds of events.
Never go to the door with a gun showing. Hold it behind your back if need be.
Don't forget the Claymores in the shrubbery!
“I’m kind of surprised that the story is (apparently) balanced, I’m surprised that they didn’t kill them both and then pile up all the weapons and ammo, knives, baseball bats etc. on the property and invite the media in to take photos and write a sensationalistic article on how they thwarted a terrorist act.”
Actually you are right. They didn’t try to twist it into the full fault of the victims.
far too many wrong addressess that end in the killing of innocent people by law enforcement.
Which is a foolish waste of money. If every country on Earth confiscated every penny beyond bare subsistence from every person and spent it all on “climate”, they couldn't affect the global temperature by one degree or the sea levels by an inch. If you believe otherwise, you have been scammed.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.