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Journal North: Home | Sports | Opinion | Obits | Entertainment
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Tapes Describe Española Brawl
By Vic Vela
Journal Staff Writer
An Española detective can be heard on a recording of police 911 calls scolding fellow Officer Eugene Rodella during a recent fight at a tattoo parlor and hookah lounge, urging Rodella to "calm down" and go outside.
Rodella, who reportedly told State Police he'd been drinking before the fight, was placed on leave from the Española Police Department after the fracas last month.
State Police responded to the fight, in which a tattoo artist received a mild concussion and broken toe, and another man associated with the shop also was sent to the hospital with a swollen jaw. But officers didn't arrest anyone, and so far no one has been charged.
The shop owners have said investigating State Police officers complained there was no surveillance camera video to use as evidence for arrests or charges.
There was a police witness to the altercation, however.
Detective Bryan Martinez of the Española Police Department, as a customer, was getting a tattoo at the Defiant Artists shop Oct. 7 when Rodella — who was off duty from his job as an Española police officer — and his brother Gabriel Rodella came into the business and fought with employees there, a State Police report on the incident says.
Martinez called police dispatch and told the operator, "Dude, get a unit out here," according to a recording of emergency calls that night that was released to the Journal on Friday by the Española/Rio Arriba County 911 Center.
"We got a fight in progress now," Martinez told the dispatcher from inside the tattoo shop on Española's Fairview Lane, part of a strip mall complex that includes Dragon's Lair Hookah Lounge.
"It's involving a PD officer," Martinez said. "We need to get someone over here now."
Martinez can be heard urging Officer Rodella to calm down.
"Dude, what are you doing, bro?" Martinez said to his fellow cop. "Geno. ... Dude, go outside and calm down, bro."
Martinez also said to Eugene Rodella, "You can't be doing that (expletive), dude."
The dispatcher asked Martinez which officer was involved, and the detective told him Rodella's nickname, "Geno."
Martinez describes the Rodella bothers entering the store.
"And they just came in here and broke a bunch of (expletive) and beat up a couple of guys," the detective says.
When the dispatcher told Martinez a police unit was on the way, Martinez said, "They broke a bunch of (expletive) in here, dude."
Conflicting stories
Officer Rodella, 40, and his brother, 22, came to the shop the night after their nephew, T.J. Rodella, was involved in a fight there. T.J. Rodella is the son of Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Española, and her husband, former Rio Arriba County Magistrate Judge Tommy Rodella, a candidate for sheriff in next year's elections. No one has been charged in the incident involving T.J. Rodella, either.
A State Police report that was released in mid-October quotes Detective Martinez as saying that when the Rodella brothers showed up at the tattoo parlor/hookah lounge complex the next night and Martinez tried to intervene, Officer Rodella responded, "You don't (expletive) with my familia."
Officer Rodella told State Police he didn't start the fight and only went to the strip mall to buy a small hookah as a birthday present for his wife. He said a man said, "Oh, you're a Rodella" and then someone started the ruckus by kicking him in the knee.
Another witness said the Rodella brothers came in looking for Christopher Whitsell — who is associated with the tattoo/hookah businesses — claiming Whitsell had "(expletive)-ed up" T.J. Rodella the night before,
Whitsell said he was punched in the face and choked by Gabriel Rodella outside the business. The altercation then spilled into the tattoo area, where Detective Martinez and shop employees were. The Rodellas allegedly ignored tattoo artist Marlo Gray's request for them to leave and continued the scuffle. Martinez told State Police that Officer Rodella hit Gray in the head.
Officer Rodella told State Police officers he had consumed "about a six-pack" of beer before coming to the shop, the State Police report states.
Also released Friday was the recording of shop co-owner Ryan Barrera's call to a 911 operator the night of Oct. 6, about the first incident at the strip mall involving T.J. Rodella. The tattoo parlor/hookah shop owners have said T.J. Rodella was accompanied by another man and became belligerent.
"We have some drunk gentlemen here at my shop, and they started some (inaudible), and the security guards kicked them out of the building for me," Barrera is heard telling the operator.
The shop owner said he was concerned the men would retaliate because one of them said "he was gonna come back and shoot us." Barrera told the operator that he wanted an officer to come by "so I can file something because, I don't know, those guys are drunk. ..." He called the men "highly intoxicated."
"You can tell," he said. "You can smell it on their breath, hard alcohol."
Disciplinary action
In another development, the Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Office is investigating a recent break-in at the home of Ryan Barrera's parents' home.
The couple reported that unknown suspects destroyed property inside the residence Oct. 23 and were concerned it was connected to the tattoo parlor dust-up. The Sheriff's Office told them that if they felt they knew who was involved, they could pursue a restraining order, according to Patricia Salazar of the Sheriff's Office.
Deputies are investigating the matter, but no suspects have been identified, Salazar said.
Officer Rodella has been on paid administrative leave since the Oct. 7 fight. The District Attorney's Office is reviewing police reports to determine whether charges will be filed.
Also, Rodella faces possible disciplinary action by the state Department of Public Safety Law Enforcement Academy board, which recently sent the officer a notice of contemplated action about the fight, according to DPS spokesman Peter Olson.
Olson said Rodella is on probation by the law enforcement board stemming from previous discipline by the board. The most severe punishment the board can dole out is revocation of his police certification, "which means he can't be a police officer," Olson said. Rodella has an opportunity to respond to the board's contemplated action before it gets that far.
Efforts to reach various members of the Rodella family for comment since the tattoo parlor fight have been unsuccessful.
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