Man's death after being slammed on his head by MDC sergeant is ruled a homicide

The state Office of the Medical Investigator determined a man died by blunt force trauma after being slammed on his head — while handcuffed behind his back — by a tactical sergeant at the Bernalillo County jail earlier this year.

OMI ruled the death of 34-year-old John Sanchez a homicide, according to an autopsy released to the Journal.

The autopsy found Sanchez had a brain bleed, a skull fracture and a broken spine and scapula following the June 12 incident at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

“There was a large amount of blood inside the skull pressing the brain (tissue),” according to the autopsy.

The sergeant, a member of MDC’s Crisis Emergency Response Team, or CERT, has not been charged with a crime.

On Thursday, MDC spokeswoman Candace Hopkins said Sgt. Stephen Gabaldon remained on administrative leave, pending the outcome of investigations by the MDC Office of Professional Standards and Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.

She said the two other corrections officers involved have returned to duty.

“MDC has not been made aware of any pending charges in connection with this incident,” Hopkins said. “MDC will review the findings of both investigations and determine if any policy or procedures need review or revision as a result of this incident.”

BCSO spokeswoman Jayme Fuller said the homicide unit is still investigating Sanchez’s death, but the case “should be wrapped up soon.”

Bennie Jaramillo, Sanchez’s stepfather who raised him since he was a baby, said he hoped those responsible are charged.

“I’m hoping the (2nd Judicial District Attorney) looks really deep into this and gets these guys for doing what they did to my son,” Jaramillo told the Journal.

He said he hopes those involved in Sanchez’s death are “never in charge of anybody” again.

Sanchez was a father who battled drug abuse for years and had been locked up on an unsubstantiated auto theft charge.

“My son wasn’t the best young man, but he didn’t have to get slammed on his head in handcuffs,” Jaramillo said.

Court records showed the auto theft charge was dismissed within 24 hours of Sanchez being booked due to “insufficient evidence.” Sanchez was set to be released from MDC when he got into back-to-back fights with other inmates in the detox unit. None of those initial scuffles, according to incident reports, resulted in any serious injuries.

Gabaldon was walking a handcuffed Sanchez down a hall when Sanchez allegedly kicked Gabaldon in the leg. MDC security video showed the sergeant immediately slammed Sanchez, at 5 feet 5 inches tall and 130 pounds, to the floor head-first.

Sanchez was cleared by medical staff after being taken in a wheelchair to his cell, according to BCSO incident reports. Forty-five minutes later, MDC staff found Sanchez seizing, and he was brought to a hospital, where he was eventually taken off life support.

BCSO reports state one MDC officer who witnessed the incident said the “takedown” Sgt. Gabaldon used on Sanchez was not in their training and “not a move he would’ve used himself.”

In separate interviews with BCSO, seen in lapel video, other MDC officers told detectives they saw nothing wrong with the takedown and that Sanchez should not have kicked Gabaldon.

Gabaldon, who trains CERT on defensive tactics, told the detective that the takedown move is not something they train but called MDC’s policies “outdated.” Gabaldon told BCSO that Sanchez apologized after the incident, saying he was “sorry.”

At the time, Sanchez was one of three people to die in as many weeks after being booked into MDC and one of eight to die in just over six months.

In total, 26 people have died after being held at the jail since the beginning of 2020 in what advocates for better conditions at the jail have called “a crisis.”

Most of those who have died, like Sanchez, were detoxing at the time, and the death toll played a role in the back-to-back reshuffling of medical providers at MDC. In July, the University of New Mexico Health Systems took over medical care at MDC.

Since then, two more people have died at the facility.