Man pushed his mother to safety before truck fatally struck him, she testifies

Moments before Carlos Moody was killed, he pushed his mother out of the path of a pickup that fatally struck him at an Albuquerque park, the woman told jurors Tuesday at the murder trial of the alleged driver.

Prosecutors allege that Jeremy “Mousey” Garcia, 33, intentionally rammed the 37-year-old Moody, pinning his body against a trash can after the two men argued at Coronado Park on June 8, 2020.

“My son pushed me out of the way,” Bernadette Barela said Tuesday during the first day of testimony in Garcia’s trial on a charge of first-degree murder in Moody’s killing. Had her son not pushed her aside, Barela would have been struck by the pickup, she told jurors.

The trial is scheduled to continue through Friday in 2nd Judicial District Court before Judge Britt Baca-Miller.

At the time of Moody’s killing, Coronado Park was home to one of Albuquerque’s largest and most visible unsanctioned homeless encampments. That ended in August 2022, when city officials closed the park and forcibly ejected an estimated 120 people living at the park at Third Street and Interstate 40.

Barela testified that she and her son were homeless and living at Coronado Park at the time Moody was killed.

Garcia drove his truck into the park and exchanged words with Moody, Barela told jurors.

“He was arguing with my son,” she said. Garcia then walked away, saying, “I’m going to blast you,” she said. Moody looked for something in the bed of his truck but didn’t find what he was looking for. “He got in the truck and started driving the truck toward us.”

Moody confronted Barela, telling him, “So you are going to hit my mom?” Moody shoved Barela aside, then was struck by the pickup, she said. Moody was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Garcia’s attorney, John McCall, said in opening statements that alcohol and drug abuse played a key role in the events surrounding Moody’s death. He cautioned jurors that eyewitnesses in the case had alcohol and substance abuse problems and would offer conflicting accounts that jurors would need to analyze, he said.

“There are going to be a lot of different stories,” McCall told jurors.

Moody had methamphetamine and heroin in his system at the time of his death, he said.

Jurors viewed security video showing a blue pickup driving the wrong way on Fourth NW, then illegally entering Coronado Park.

Garcia “sees Carlos (Moody) in the park and he is actually going the wrong way down a one-way street and drives into the park, navigating around concrete barriers and trees,” Assistant District Attorney Dana Beyal said in opening statements Tuesday.

“He gets out and has a confrontation with Mr. Moody,” Beyal told jurors. “He then threatens to shoot Mr. Moody. He goes back to his car, rummages around, doesn’t come back with a gun. So he gets back in that truck and he strikes Mr. Moody intentionally with that truck, crushing him against a trash can.”