Journal coverage of the U.S. Justice Department’s civil rights investigation

Thomas E. Perez, right, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, speaks at a news conference announcing a U.S.D.O.J. investigation into APD’s use of excessive deadly force, Tuesday Nov. 27, 2012. Looking on is Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry, left, and APD Police Chief Ray Shultz, center. (Pat Vasquez-Cunningham/Journal)

On Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2012, federal officials launched an investigation into whether the Albuquerque Police Department has a pattern of violating people’s civil rights, specifically through its officers’ use of force.

Confirmation of the investigation followed nearly a year and a half of speculation that reached a peak in August 2011, when Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, announced during a visit to Albuquerque that the Justice Department was “gathering information” on APD.

APD officers shot at 26 men between 2010 and the beginning of the federal investigation, striking 24 of them. Seventeen died. And although none of those officers has faced criminal or administrative discipline, families of some of the men shot have pending civil lawsuits against the city and APD.

The department also had a series of high-profile embarrassments that didn’t involve shootings.

Note: An earlier version of this summary — along with several Journal print stories, editorials and a graphic — reported the total number of men shot at by APD officers since 2010 as 25. That is incorrect. The correct number is 26. The Journal’s reporting unintentionally omitted a non-fatal shooting by an officer on Aug. 6.

– Jeff Proctor / Journal Staff Writer

On this page, you will find:

• News updates throughout the investigation
• Videos on the investigation and recent APD events
• A timeline of events leading to the U.S.D.O.J. investigation
• Extensive background information on all of the events

Updates from the Investigation

• 04/10/13: Updated: APD sgt. pleads not guilty to vehicular homicide
• 04/04/13: DA clears officer in fatal 2011 shooting
• 03/29/13: APD officer driving 65 mph when he hit car
• 03/27/13: Officer is charged in fatal crash with SUV
• 03/27/13: APD officer cleared in fatal shooting
• 03/22/13: Police seeking victims of cold case molester
• 03/21/13: Gun found at standoff was used to shoot cop
• 03/20/13: $10.3M verdict won’t up tax bills
• 03/20/13: Updated: New details in yesterday’s SWAT standoff, police shooting
• 03/19/13: Police targeted in shooting

– More from the category ‘Feds and APD’

Timeline of Events

More Background

Fatal Shootings

• 1/9/10: Officer Andrew Cooke shoots Aaron Renfro
• 1/13/10: Officer Brett Lampiris-Tremba shoots Kenneth Ellis III
• 3/29/10: Officer Kevin Sanchez shoots Mickey Owings
• 6/10/10: Officers Anthony Brown, Eric Sedler shoot Chris Hinz
• 6/14/10: Officer Aaron Zwicky shoots Julian Calbert
• 7/27/10: Officer Jeremy Hollier shoots Len Fuentes
• 8/17/10: Officer Josh Brown shoots Enrique Carrasco
• 10/19/10: Officers Drew Bader, Ramon Ornelas shoot Daniel Gonzales
• 10/31/10: Officer David Sprague shoots Alexei Sinkevitch
• 2/9/11: Officer Byron “Trey” Economidy shoots Jacob Mitschelen
• 4/12/11: Officer Christopher J. Brown shoots Christopher Torres
• 5/10/11: Officer Sean Wallace shoots Alan Gomez
• 6/4/11: Officer Matthew Oates shoots Raymond Garcia
• 8/30/11: Officer Jim Perdue shoots Michael Marquez
• 1/4/12: Officer Mario Perez shoots Mark Macoldowna
• 3/19/12: Officer Martin Smith shoots Daniel Tillison
• 3/21/12: Officer Russ Carter shoots Gary Atencio

Non-Fatal Shootings

• 1/29/10: Officer Sean Wallace shoots Wayne Cordova
• 3/4/10: Officer Roger Legendre shoots at Jose Castillo
• 4/14/10: Officer Zach Stephenson shoots Benjamin Marquez
• 9/14/10: Officer Leah Kelly shoots Chandler Barr
• 11/11/10: Officer Brian Pitzer shoots Ray Tenorio
• 6/26/11: Officer Damian Lujan shoots Orlando Paisano
• 4/19/12: Officer Mike Hill shoots Dennis Aragon
• 6/20/12: Officer Drew Bader shoots at Santiago Chavez
• 8/6/12: Sgt. Jason Peck shoots Dominick Solis-Mora

Excessive Force Cases

• 2/13/11: Officers John Doyle and Robert Woolever repeatedly kick Nicholas Blume
• 5/31/12: Officer Connor Rice stuns, hits man multiple times

Miscellaneous

• 11/30/10: Study: Educated Cops Less Likely To Use Force
• 4/19/11: APD Shootings: No Easy Answers
• 6/25/11: Changes In Store for APD
• 12/11/11: The Roots of APD’s ‘Crisis’?
• 2/6/12: Police Misconduct Costly