Community seeks #JusticeForElijahHadley as details remain murky more than a month after being shot and killed by sheriff’s deputy — Daniel Montano, KUNM News
Elijah Hadley was shot 19 times and killed by police in late June after throwing a BB gun to the ground out of his reach.
Following the incident, details have remained sparse. The name of the Otero County Sheriff’s Deputy involved has still not been released, and in various social media posts his family has said they feel betrayed by authorities.
Now, more than a month later, the hashtag #JusticeForElijahHadley has been trending, and the community is planning a march demanding answers on Saturday at 9 a.m. from the Otero County Fairgrounds to the Sheriff’s Office, with parking at the mall.
The video of the shooting, released by KOAT News, shows the deputy pulling up to Hadley on the side of the freeway. The deputy tells Hadley to stop, which the teen does before throwing an airsoft pistol off to his right. He had been complying with the deputy’s instructions and was in fact no longer holding the BB gun, but the deputy fired four times, dropping Hadley to the ground.
The deputy called for backup and then stood behind his door waiting for more officers to arrive, but after a few minutes, Hadley began to move slightly, and the deputy shot the boy another 15 times while he still lay on the ground, warning him, quote, “don’t go for that gun.”
Hadley was pronounced dead at the scene and the deputy stated Hadley had pointed the gun at him, which is not supported by the video evidence.
The New Mexico State Police is handling the investigation. They have not replied with an update prior to air. If they do respond, KUNM will update this post with the latest information.
APD officer connected to DWI scandal fired, another resigns - Elise Kaplan, City Desk ABQ
The highest ranking cop under an internal investigation regarding allegations of corruption in the Albuquerque Police Department’s DWI unit has been terminated and another officer resigned this week.
Cmdr. Mark Landavazo, with the Internal Affairs Division, had been on administrative leave and under investigation since Feb. 13. He had been with APD since 2007 and was with the DWI unit from 2008 through 2013.
Emails obtained by City Desk ABQ earlier this summer showed the FBI had forwarded a tip in June of 2022 to Landavazo about an officer working with attorney Thomas Clear III and his paralegal to guarantee a DWI charge would go away if the defendant paid $10,000. According to those emails, Landavazo suggested the special agent contact the Civilian Police Oversight Agency and an APD spokesperson said he did not tell the chief about the allegations.
Gilbert Gallegos, the APD spokesperson, said, Landavazo was fired after the internal investigation found he had violated three policies. Gallegos said he was disciplined for two of the policies and fired after the third investigation was completed. He couldn’t immediately say what those violations were for.
“I said we would leave no stone unturned with these investigations,” Chief Harold Medina said in a news release announcing the termination. “We will continue to follow the evidence and ensure everyone is held accountable.”
Also this week, a seventh officer — who had worked in the DWI unit within the past several years — resigned before returning to work from military leave.
Gallegos said Neill Elsman had been on military leave since October — before the investigation began — and after he was told he had to return to the department, he resigned on July 30. Gallegos said Elsman will still be asked to appear for a voluntary interview.
Elsman had been with APD since April 2014.
No one has been charged in the case — which burst into public view on Jan. 18 when FBI agents raided the homes of several officers and Clear’s office. The federal investigation is ongoing.
In the days that followed, Medina appointed Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock of the Criminal Investigations Division to lead the internal investigation into the officers’ conduct as well as into whether anyone else at the department knew about wrongdoing but did not report it.
Since then, six other officers resigned: Justin Hunt, Honorio Alba, Joshua Montaño, Harvey Johnson, Nelson Ortiz and Daren DeAguero.
A seventh officer, Matthew Trahan, was put on leave and put under investigation in May. An eighth — a lieutenant in the Internal Affairs Division who has not been publicly identified — was transferred to another division while he is being investigated.
The completed internal investigation will be submitted to the Superintendent of Police Reform, Gallegos said.
Black officer files discrimination lawsuit against N.M. State Police — Phaedra Haywood, Santa Fe New Mexican
A Black patrolman working in the Taos area has filed a racial discrimination lawsuit against the New Mexico State Police, claiming he was subjected to slurs, denied promotions and paid less than other officers because of his race.
Edward Archie’s complaint filed recently in state District Court seeks actual and compensatory damages, including double back pay and promotion into a position he would have had but for the alleged discrimination.
Archie has worked for the agency since 2017 and is the only Black officer in his district, according to his complaint.
In 2020, he reported “egregious, persistent and direct outward displays of racism against Black people in the district” to then-State Police Chief Robert Thornton, the complaint says.
He reported one fellow officer made a Facebook post “stating slavery was a blessing to Black people and that Black people are animals,” adding officers in the district referred to Black people using racial slurs, according to the lawsuit.
His supervising officer, Lt. Dominic Lucero, did nothing to address his complaints and instead suspended Archie, according to the lawsuit.
After returning from a seven-month leave of absence, Archie learned Lucero had been promoted and was in charge of the district.
The lawsuit claims Lucero has since retaliated against Archie by failing to promote him to positions with the investigations bureau for which he was qualified and placing him on a “corrective action plan” for not issuing enough traffic citations.
Archie’s complaint also alleges he was paid $4 per hour less than other non-Black patrolmen with the same or less seniority for substantially similar work. Archie’s attorney, former state Sen. Jacob Candelaria, said in a phone interview Tuesday the lawsuit is intended to bring accountability for Archie and “help root out and shine a light on what is a really unacceptable racist environment” within the Taos-area state police district.
Department of Public Safety spokesman Ray Wilson confirmed Lucero is still employed in District 7 but declined to comment on the litigation. Officers in District 7 serve Española, Taos and Chama, according to the department’s website. Lucero did not respond Tuesday to a message seeking comment.
Homelessness increased again across NM since last year, according to latest ‘point-in-time’ count - Patrick Lohmann, Source New Mexico
The number of people living on the streets of New Mexico increased to the highest level since at least 2009, according to a new “point-in-time” survey released Tuesday by the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness.
The survey sends volunteers out on a single night in January once a year to speak to people on the streets and collects data about people living in shelters across the state. The survey has many limitations but still likely represents a significant undercount of the total number of homeless people in the state, according to the report authors.
In Albuquerque on January 29 of this year, 1,231 people were counted experiencing unsheltered homelessness. That’s a 14.5% increase over last year, when 977 people were counted.
In the rest of the state, 1,011 people were estimated to be living on the streets that same night. That’s a 62% increase from the 623 people counted during last year’s survey, according to the report.
There are a lot of moving parts to the “point-in-time” count, according to the authors, and the survey results vary based on how many people are willing to sit for a survey, how many volunteers the coalition could recruit and how responsive shelters are to survey requests. This year, for example, nearly half of 2,079 people contacted by the coalition refused surveys.
One factor that affected the Albuquerque count, according to the report, was the increasingly common sweeps of established homeless encampments.
“The city’s aggressive decommissioning policy leading up into the night of the count still caused surveyors to arrive in surveying zones, previously identified as having been heavily populated with unsheltered individuals, with no one to survey,” the authors wrote.
They noted, however, that surveyors reported that the number of police-led clearing of encampments did appear to be an improvement over last year, when more camps were cleared around the time of the count.
The surveyors asked respondents what types of property they lost after sweeps by police, and how often they occurred. Of 786, respondents, 497 said their encampment had been swept five or more times. A significant position responded “every day” or something similar to that, according to the survey.
Nearly 90% of respondents said they’d lost identification or a driver’s license in the sweeps. More than three-quarters lost a phone or tablet. More than 70% said they lost a personal or sentimental item. More than half said they lost prescription medications, according to the report.
Other methods for counting the number of homeless estimate that as many as 20,000 people are unhoused in New Mexico over the course of the year, a figure that appears to be increasing.
The survey cited a recent ProPublica article interviewing people about what they lost in sweeps. They said the ongoing clearings just make it harder for those experiencing homelessness to improve their situations.
“No one’s ability to exit homelessness is improved by repeatedly having their belongings stolen or thrown away,” the authors write. “The only lasting impact of such initiatives is to prolong episodes of homelessness and inflict additional suffering on an already extremely vulnerable population.”
Public’s last chance to give input on how to spend Opioid settlement funds this weekend — Daniel Montaño, KUNM New
The public will get its last chance this weekend to give its input on how the city and county should spend millions of dollars fighting the opioid epidemic.
Bernalillo County and the City of Albuquerque are hosting on Saturday the final town-hall style public meeting soliciting input on how they should spend their share of opioid settlement funds.
The City and County decided to pool their funds to maximize their effects since they are essentially serving the same population, and decided to freeze spending of any more funds until a strategic plan could be developed.
The one-time funds will come in annual payments until 2039, and combined the county and city will be receiving more than $135 million total. Since the funds eventually will dry up, officials say they must be spent carefully on programs and projects that will continue to pay dividends years down the line.
At previous meetings seeking input, attendees suggested everything from expanding harm reduction and peer support workers, to help with housing, transportation and even sites to safely use narcotics. Community members also urged lawmakers to defer to experts and local providers when crafting the plan.
The meeting will take place from 12:30-3:30 p.m. at the International District Library on Saturday Aug 3.
Bernalillo County closes pools for fecal parasite Cryptosporidium — Daniel Montaño, KUNM News
Bernalillo county is closing all of its pools to fight the spread of a waterborne parasite that can cause extreme gastrointestinal distress.
Cryptosporidium is a parasite that lives in fecal matter and causes a disease that comes with intense diarrhea, and it has been detected in swimmers in two cases at City of Albuquerque pools.
The county said it is cleaning and disinfecting, as well as super-chlorinating all its pools during the closure, and they will reopen when it’s deemed safe to do so.
An official says there haven’t been any confirmed cases at county pools, and they are following the steps, “out of an abundance of safety.”
The county will conduct water tests every hour and follow CDC guidelines during the super-chlorination, and they’re following similar steps that the city has taken after detecting its two cases.
Residents can check on the closures at BernCo’s Aquatic Page.
The county will still be holding the final day of its Summer Lunch Program tomorrow at all pool sites as scheduled.
Former city councilor on the still-closed visitor center: ‘It’s a boondoggle and a money pit’ — Damon Scott, City Desk ABQ
There’s still no opening date for the decades-in-the-making West Central Route 66 Visitors Center, though construction was completed years ago. Even so, one former city councilor thinks the long delay might be the least of the city’s worries at the shiny 21,000-square-foot facility with pristine views of the Sandia Mountains.
Albuquerque city councilors are scheduled to talk about it Monday when they meet for the first time since a summer break. On the agenda for a vote is legislation filed by Councilor Klarissa Peña that would create a visitors center commission.
The interior of the two-story facility features a Route 66-themed museum, banquet/event hall, gift shop and a taproom/brewery with a high-end commercial kitchen. The exterior has a large amphitheater and a neon sign park.
But the prospect of a visitors center that serves alcohol in a remote area of the city — it’s located at 12300 Central Ave. NW about 10 miles west of Downtown — has raised concerns. Securing a liquor license has also proved difficult.
“As a member of the City Council and someone in love with the city, it seemed to me to be a bit dangerous and stupid to serve alcohol in a way out place,” former City Councilor Trudy Jones said. “First of all, it’s a visitor center — one designed to attract people going by on I-40. How would you like it if we over-served a tourist who went out on the interstate in the wrong direction and got killed and killed a whole family?”
Jones is newly retired from the City Council and was one of its longest-serving members at 16 years. She’s been critical of the visitors center from the start.
“The maintenance is horrific. I mean, there’s nobody there, nobody takes care of it,” she said. “They have to pay someone to clean it. They have to pay for the utilities. There’s nothing positive.”
Peña, who’s been a main force behind the project, describes such criticism as finger pointing by naysayers.
“Most people embrace it or are waiting for it or longing for it — but sometimes people from outside like to point fingers and say lots of different things,” she said. “The visitors center is nothing but a beautiful, beautiful story that someday, I hope, gets told about the community banding together to create change.”
The city became the sole manager of the visitors center earlier this year when Bernalillo County officials voted to transfer ownership and responsibility of the $13.7 million facility. It had previously been under a city-county intergovernmental agreement.
The county’s transfer to the city was, at least in part, due to complications obtaining a proper liquor license.
“The county doesn’t do government liquor licenses, which is required as part of the facility. [It’s] incorporated into it to have an event center and a taproom,” Peña said.
However, Jones thinks county officials saw the writing on the wall.
“[The county] didn’t want to take all that money out of their coffers to keep that monstrosity open,” she said. “It’s a boondoggle and a money pit. Everything about it was a special interest project. Now the city’s budget is being thrown at this building just to keep it alive and keep it from falling down.”
'TOP DOLLAR FACILITY'
Randy and Denise Baker, the owners of Rio Bravo Brewing Co., previously showed interest in operating the taproom/brewery — to give it a local flavor — but those plans never panned out. Still, the longtime South Valley residents think the idea has merit.
“The facility is amazing and is top dollar in all aspects,” Denise Baker said. “If they ever actually open, it will provide an excellent option for events and concerts. Hopefully, it will open one day.”
“The South Valley and the Westside are limited on venues — unless you go to Route 66 Casino [Hotel],” Randy Baker said. “So we like the idea, but they just couldn’t figure out how they were going to run it. There’s a lot of things that they could do to make that a very intriguing and receptive place.”
Peña hopes her proposed commission will help connect the missing pieces and expedite an opening date.
“The idea is to form a commission to help so that [the visitors center] operates like an Explora, like the Albuquerque Museum — where you have people who are invested,” she said.
Peña said she’s been invested for 30 years and is likely the project’s biggest supporter. Her involvement, and that of her husband Johnny Peña, started before she was first elected to City Council in 2013. Johnny Peña is a longtime board member of the West Central Community Development Group (WCCDG), the nonprofit that once held a contract to manage the visitors center.
“He started this journey with me many years ago. We were young parents trying to raise our kids and trying to make a difference in our community and create change,” Peña said. “He has been serving as a volunteer for as long as I have, and he actually deserves the most credit of all the volunteers who have been serving their community all these years.”
The WCCDG was previously awarded a $500,000 contract, but Peña said her husband never personally profited from it. She expects the WCCDG to remain involved, however.
Her proposed commission would consist of seven voting members and two non-voting advisory members to be confirmed by the City Council. It would include Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, two city councilors, four representatives designated by the WCCDG, and advisory members from Visit Albuquerque and the Albuquerque Hispano Chamber of Commerce.
EXPENSES MOUNT
Officials say there’s still a long list of tasks to be completed before the visitors center can open. Now under the purview of the city’s Arts & Culture Department, the facility needs audio/visual equipment, short-term exhibit upgrades, phone and networking systems, parking lot lighting, elevator repairs and outdoor signage.
Contracts need to be secured for landscaping, cleaning and security. A two-year plan needs to be developed for exhibits, and staff positions need to be created and filled.
“Most fire safety requirements have now been met,” Arts & Culture spokesperson Tanya Lenti said. “This week, department leadership will be meeting with a landscape architect to gain valuable insights on the planned [neon] sign park.”
In the meantime, the visitors center has hosted neighborhood association meetings and an occasional tour and special event. Lenti said the Route 66 Centennial Coordination Group and its stakeholders took a tour in June, and collaboration is underway with the coordinators of the Route 66 WestFest for a September event.
“With the appropriate level of resources and financial support, we expect to be fully operational by 2025,” she said. “We are committed to ensuring that the facility is well operated, sufficiently staffed, and an engaging cultural asset for our communities.”
ECONOMIC BENEFITS, TOO?
Hopes have been high in Peña’s District 3 since the idea of a visitors center first germinated among community members in the neighborhoods of West Central in the early 1990s. It was touted as a project that would bring new development to the area and be an economic boon to the city at large.
But years after its construction, there’s no sign of those hopes coming to fruition. There are also concerns that so many years later, the draw of a visitors center has diminished as tourists book hotels, find out about events, and get restaurant recommendations online.
Peña isn’t worried.
“It’s something community members see as an avenue to bring visitors from across the city, from across the nation and from across the world — to take in the entire stretch of the historic Route 66,” she said. “We see it as an economic engine to spur economic development as a gateway into our wonderful city.”
Peña expects that the visitors center will highlight city attractions like the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and the National Hispanic Cultural Center. It would recommend places to stay, visit and learn about the city.
“We also wanted, especially, to create a place for us,” Peña said. “If you look at District 3, there are no museums. There’s no real large cultural asset. We don’t have the Balloon Fiesta, we don’t have [New Mexico] United [soccer], we don’t have [Albuquerque] Isotopes [baseball].”
The facility would also host weddings and other private events.
“There is nothing out there to revitalize,” Jones said. “It’s sitting in the middle of a freaking desert with an arroyo running through it. There’s no business. There are very few homes.”
Peña argues that the critical focus on the facility’s delayed opening is overblown.
“It’s really interesting, because people forget that we had a pandemic,” she said. “When we finally got the money to actually break ground, we had a pandemic and as a result we had escalating costs, we had delays, we had complete stoppage of building it.”
She said that scheduling a ribbon-cutting event, which took place in September 2022, still made sense even though the facility wasn’t ready to open.
“Because we knew how excited the community was about the building,” Peña said. “We wanted to show people the progress we’d made. We still have a few things that need to be addressed before we can fully open.”
Meanwhile, Jones thinks the best-case scenario for the city is to give the facility to a nonprofit.
“It’s just expensive. It was designed for this idea that people are just going to kind of wander off I-40 and run into it,” she said. “There’s nothing there. They don’t even have a sign on the interstate. It is one of the most blatant and expensive examples of politics.”