Records detail recent jail death: MDC sergeant slammed handcuffed man on his head

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said a sergeant at the Metropolitan Detention Center slammed a handcuffed inmate on his head last month — apparently leaving him with a brain bleed, broken neck and back.

Afterward John Sanchez, 34, was “medically cleared” and taken in a wheelchair to his cell, according to BCSO incident reports. Forty-five minutes later, MDC staff found Sanchez having a seizure and he was brought to a hospital, where he was declared brain dead and taken off life support.

The reports state an MDC officer who saw the June 12 incident unfold told a BCSO detective that the “takedown” the sergeant used on Sanchez — who is 5 feet 5 inches tall and 130 pounds — was, to his knowledge, not in their training and “not a move he would’ve used himself.”

The reports were released on Friday through an Inspection of Public Records Act request.

The sergeant has not been charged with a crime.

MDC spokeswoman Candace Hopkins said he and three other corrections officers involved in the incident remain on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of MDC and BCSO investigations.

“Upon completion of both investigations MDC officials will review the findings and determine the appropriate response and any possible disciplinary actions toward the three corrections officers involved,” Hopkins said.

BCSO spokeswoman Jayme Fuller said in an email that BCSO’s investigation hasn’t yet been completed.

“Once it is done it will be sent to the (District Attorney’s) Office for their review and any potential charges would be up to them,” Fuller said.

Bennie Jaramillo, Sanchez’s stepfather, said the BCSO detective told the family they were investigating the death as a homicide. He said a nurse told them if Sanchez hadn’t been brain dead, he would’ve been paralyzed.

“John wasn’t perfect, none of us are, but he didn’t need to get slammed on his head. He was already handcuffed,” Jaramillo said. “... And if we have to continue fighting for the rest of our life — I want justice for my son.”

He added, “It’s not even about money, it’s about justice. John didn’t have to die like that, he really didn’t.”

Sanchez had been booked into MDC on an unsubstantiated auto theft charge that was dismissed within 24 hours, according to court records.

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, 24 people have died after being held at the jail since the beginning of 2020 in what advocates are calling “a crisis.”

Like many of the others who died, Sanchez was detoxing at the time.

Bernalillo County recently conceded that it had not complied with a corrective action plan aimed at providing better care for MDC inmates, particularly those in detox, and reached a settlement with civil rights attorneys to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars toward meeting the plan’s goals along with other concessions.

According to several BCSO incident reports:

Sometime before 4:15 p.m. Sanchez had been in two scuffles with other MDC inmates, leaving him with a cut lip. Sanchez was medically cleared but then had “more medical complaints” and was assessed again.

When a corrections officer was taking Sanchez back to his cell for the second time he tried to run away but slipped and fell. The officer called for the Critical Emergency Response Team, or CERT, who responded and handcuffed Sanchez behind his back.

Deputies said security video showed the sergeant with CERT was escorting Sanchez back to his cell when Sanchez kicked, or kicked at, the sergeant. The video showed the sergeant “performing a leverage takedown” on Sanchez, causing him to land “forcefully on his face and head.”

Another MDC officer told deputies Sanchez “appeared to be calm” before the incident and, afterward, was “non-compliant and began to curse.” The officer said they put Sanchez in a wheelchair and asked why he tried to run and he replied “I’m detoxing” and that he was sorry.

The officer told deputies the sergeant said to Sanchez “not in a kind way” — “don’t (expletive) turn from me. We’re gonna get you cleared and you’re gonna go back to your pod. What the hell is wrong with you.”

Sanchez was again medically cleared and sent back to his cell. MDC staff found him 45 minutes later vomiting and having a seizure.

Sanchez was transported to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where doctors said he had a “large brain bleed” and fractures to the neck and spine — declaring him brain dead. A BCSO crime scene investigator arrived to the hallway where the incident occurred and found it had already been cleaned up by MDC staff.

MDC officially released Sanchez from custody before he was taken off life support on June 16.