No recordings made in officer-involved shooting

Incident ‘unfolded too quickly’

Two Albuquerque police officers who shot and wounded a burglary suspect in May made no recordings of the shooting because it unfolded too fast, a police spokeswoman said.

Officers Israel Martinez and Patrick Casias shot and wounded Jacob Pacheco, 24, in May. Police were called to the area after a homeowner was alerted by his in-home security system, which recorded Pacheco rummaging through the man’s home.

When the officers found the man near the 200 block of Truman NE, he fled and officers watched Pacheco, who had a firearm, try to carjack a woman, according to a criminal complaint.

Pacheco then tried to get into a marked police car to get away, and he later admitted that he pointed the firearm at Casias before Casias and Martinez fired their weapons, striking him in the arm, the complaint said.

This week, police released 21 onbody camera recordings from officers that captured the aftermath of the shooting, and investigators doing some interviews with officials at a nearby school and with the woman Pacheco tried to carjack. Police also released the home security footage that shows Pacheco in someone’s home.

Celina Espinoza, a police spokeswoman, didn’t say if Casias and Martinez violated a policy by not turning on their cameras during the shooting.

“The officers involved only had video immediately following the incident,” Espinoza said. “They said it simply unfolded too quickly for them to have time to initiate their cameras during the shooting.”

Albuquerque police policy calls for officers to make recordings anytime they use force, make an arrest or stop someone and suspect they have committed a crime. But the policy also allows officers not to make recordings if there is a danger.

“If the immediate activation of the (on-body camera) is not feasible due to immediate risk to the safety of the department personnel or others, the department personnel will activate the (camera) at the first available opportunity when the immediate threat has dissipated and it is safe to do so,” the policy states.

Pacheco told investigators he broke into the house to get money to buy drugs, according to the complaint.

He has since been indicted by a grand jury on aggravated burglary, aggravated assault on a police officer and other charges. He is scheduled to go to trial July 2018.