Officer is charged in fatal crash with SUV

Albuquerque Police Department Sgt. Adam Casaus has been charged with vehicular homicide in the early morning crash on Feb. 10 in which he drove through a red light and struck an SUV, killing its 21-year-old passenger.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Mark Drebing told the Journal on Tuesday that prosecutors will take the case to a preliminary hearing, where a judge will decide whether there is probable cause to believe Casaus committed one or both of the crimes he’s charged with: vehicular homicide by reckless driving and great bodily injury by vehicle involving reckless driving, both felonies. If so, he would be bound over for trial in state District Court.

The preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 9 in District Court.

The other option, Drebing said, would have been to take the case to a grand jury.

“Grand jury proceedings are done in secret,” he said. “We anticipate probably taking this case to a preliminary hearing — that’s an open presentation before a judge — because it’s a case involving a police officer.”

Ashley Browder was killed in the crash at Paseo del Norte and Eagle Ranch NW, which occurred around 1:30 a.m.

Lindsay Browder, Ashley Browder’s 19-year-old sister, was driving the Honda CR-V and was seriously injured.

Casaus declined to comment through his attorney, John D’Amato, who said in an interview that he plans to fight the charges:

“The Casaus family extends its deepest sympathies in this tragedy to the Browder family,” D’Amato said. “The D’Amato Law Firm will do everything in its power to protect Adam Casaus.”

Casaus, who was taken to a hospital for minor injuries, was on medical leave for several days after the crash. It is unclear how long he was out of work, but at some point during the past six weeks, he returned to APD and was assigned to desk duty.

On Tuesday, with the filing of the charges against him, Casaus was placed on paid leave, Police Chief Ray Schultz said in an email to the Journal. APD also opened an Internal Affairs case “based on the filing of those charges,” the chief’s email said.

Casaus was not arrested.

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy Leonard Armijo, with assistance from APD and State Police, investigated the crash.

The criminal complaint Armijo filed on Tuesday contained one previously unreported detail: that according to witnesses, Casaus had not slowed down prior to entering the intersection and striking the Browders’ vehicle.

BCSO has confirmed that Casaus had driven into the intersection against a red light and that neither he nor Lindsay Browder was tested for drugs or alcohol as part of the department’s investigation.

Still unclear Tuesday was how fast Casaus was driving at the time of the crash and whether he was on-duty.

Since the crash, the Journal has reported several details after obtaining documents through requests under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act.

For example: APD confirmed that Casaus was tested under the city of Albuquerque’s administrative rules that require employees be tested for drugs and alcohol after a crash. APD policy states that the results of administrative post-crash testing are confidential. They can be used for disciplinary purposes, but they can’t be used against an officer in a criminal case.

Initial reports from BCSO indicated Casaus had said he was pursuing or looking for a drunken driver in the area at the time he struck the SUV.

However, Casaus logged off his last call shortly before 10 p.m. on Feb. 9 — nearly four hours before the crash, according to police dispatch records obtained by the Journal.

The records don’t show any police dispatchers advising Casaus of a suspected drunken driver in the area prior to the crash. And Casaus, a veteran sergeant who worked for several years in the APD traffic unit, didn’t call out over his police radio that he had seen someone showing signs of intoxication behind the wheel.

The documents also show no aggressive or drunken drivers were reported in the area by anyone at APD within hours before the crash or at least a half hour afterward.

Other documents indicate Casaus was not signed up to work DWI overtime on Feb. 9 or Feb. 10. His shift had ended at 11 p.m. Feb. 9.

APD standard operating procedures state that officers initiating traffic stops “shall advise communications of the impending stop, giving violator’s vehicle information (license plate, description of vehicle and/or occupants, etc.) and location.”

The department’s policies allow off-duty officers to enforce the law. If they observe criminal activity, officers are supposed to contact police dispatchers by telephone, “unless the situation requires an immediate response, at which time officers may use their department issued police radio, if available.”

The department’s policy “does not relieve the driver of an authorized emergency vehicle from the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons, nor does it protect the driver from the consequences of his reckless disregard for the safety of others.”
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal