Lawsuit filed in fatal police shooting of man cuffed in Albuquerque officer's vehicle

Yahoo

a day ago

Jun. 11—The fatal shooting by Albuquerque police of Matthew "Solo" Garcia while he was handcuffed in the backseat of an officer's SUV in October prompted a tense protest outside the Central Avenue motel in the hours after the killing.
Garcia's family on June 2 filed a lawsuit alleging that the Albuquerque Police Department and city officials failed to follow the law and their own policies throughout the encounter on Oct. 18, 2024.
"We want our officers and our department — specifically APD — to comply with our constitution," said Taylor Smith, an attorney who filed the suit.
"Had that been the case from the outset, I think we would have a drastically different situation, and probably not a wrongful death lawsuit," he said.
The shooting occurred after APD and city officials arrived at the Tewa Lodge to enter apartments and evict tenants, the suit alleges. The action violated the state's Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act and city policies that regulate tenant evictions, it alleges.
The lawsuit contends that officers had no right to enter Garcia's room at the Tewa Lodge on Central, just east of San Mateo, without a search warrant or to detain him without cause. It also alleges officers had ample time to search Garcia for a weapon after they cuffed him and placed him in a police vehicle.
The 37-page lawsuit, filed last week in 2nd Judicial District Court, seeks undisclosed compensatory and punitive damages and costs. It names the city, APD Chief Harold Medina and three officers and others as defendants.
Spokespersons for the city and APD declined Wednesday to respond to the lawsuit.
"On APD's side, we will be prepared to respond to the allegations in court," APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said in a statement.
Garcia had a loaded handgun on his person at the time he was placed into the police SUV.
APD officials shared lapel video showing officers Precious Cadena and Zachary Earles firing 11 bullets through the open doors of the vehicle as a third officer wrested the gun from Garcia.
"Another important aspect of this case is the fact that the officers were able to get the firearm from Mr. Garcia before they began to shoot him," Smith said. "And there was no communication between the officers when they removed the firearm."
APD Chief Medina acknowledged at a news conference that Garcia was placed into the SUV without a pat-down search.
An officer had put on gloves to perform a search when Garcia began banging his head against the vehicle, lapel video showed. Officers placed Garcia in the car "in an attempt to calm the situation down," Medina said.
The lawsuit alleges that police had ample time to complete the pat-down search in the 40 minutes after Garcia was handcuffed but failed to do so.
"It's a good amount of time in which they could have (searched Garcia) while he was being cooperative with officers," Smith said.
The lawsuit also contends that the code enforcement operation police and city officials conducted violated city laws and policies and Garcia's constitutional rights.
City officials intended to evict all the residents of the Tewa Lodge when they entered the property and began removing tenants from the units without warrants, it alleges.
Throughout the interaction, officers "made clear that Mr. Garcia was not free to terminate the encounter and was not free to leave constituting a de facto arrest without reasonable suspicion or probable cause," the suit alleges.
Smith said residents in hotel rooms have constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure.
"You can't just summarily evict somebody because you believe there may be drugs on the property," he said. "You still have to go through the criminal process."