DA clears APD officer in 2014 death
James Eichel shot suspect wielding gun in confrontation
The 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday that the officer who shot and killed Alfred Redwine in 2014 will face no charges.
It was the second 2½-year-old police shooting case that has been cleared in two days by District Attorney Kari Brandenburg, who is in her final days in office.
Phil Sisneros, a spokesman for the office, said this will be the last police shooting case that prosecutors will complete with Brandenburg in office.
Albuquerque police officer
James Eichel shot and killed Redwine after a confrontation outside the man’s apartment near 60th and Central on March 25, 2014.
Police had been called there by a 14-year-old girl and her mother who said a man had threatened them with a gun. By the time officers arrived, Redwine had retreated into his apartment with two young children, according to the shooting review.
More officers were called to the scene and took positions around the home. Eventually, two young children ran from the apartment and Redwine followed. He held a small-caliber revolver to his temple and had a cellphone, according to the review.
He walked toward officers and got within 10 to 15 feet of them and started talking about losing custody of his son. A test later showed
that Redwine’s blood alcohol level was 0.269 percent, more than three times the presumed level of intoxication of 0.08 percent, according to his autopsy report.
Video of the shooting made by a person with a cellphone camera appears to show that Redwine pointed the gun at the ground and fired twice.
That’s when Eichel shot Redwine three times with an AR-15 rifle. Eichel said he was worried that either he, officer Fred Duran, who was next to Eichel holding a less lethal weapon, or others could be shot.
“I don’t know if we were going to be hit, if I was going to look and see officer Duran hit or downed, but I thought he was going to shoot and kill us,” Eichel said, according to a transcript of his interview with police investigators that was previously obtained by the Journal.
The review by prosecutors found that there was no evidence Eichel committed any sort of crime that day.
“He shot towards Alfred Redwine to save himself and other people present from death or serious bodily injury,” the review says.“There is no reason to doubt that the fear expressed by the officer was genuine.”
Redwine’s family filed a lawsuit over the shooting. But Chief U.S. District Judge Christina Armijo dismissed the case, saying video of the shooting clearly shows that Redwine had a gun and fired it before being shot.