Belt tape discrepancies are questioned
Judge: Recorded audio differed from deputies’ account of events
Questions about accountability and transparency have been at the heart of many recent news conferences by Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales regarding shootings involving deputies over the past 41⁄2 months.
Gonzales has dismissed the idea of on-body cameras and maintained that the belt tape audio recorders that deputies carry are sufficient to show the full story.
But in the case against a suspected auto burglar who had been shot and injured by a deputy last summer, a judge expressed concerns that the recorded audio differed from deputies’ account of events.
In an August filing, Judge Christina Argyres wrote that the documents presented by the state
were “inconsistent and not inherently reliable.”
She wrote that, “In sum, the state presented a criminal complaint and sworn affidavit that differ extensively from what is heard on the belt tape audio.”
The order was her denial of the district attorney’s motion to keep 26-year-old Charles Chavez behind bars until his trial. He was released on his own recognizance but ordered to wear a GPS device.
Chavez was suspected of breaking into vehicles at a South Valley apartment complex July 25 when he was confronted by deputies. He faced charges of battery on a police officer, disarming a police officer, burglary and other crimes.
In October, the DA’s Office dismissed the case without prejudice when prosecutors didn’t meet deadlines.
Michael Patrick, a spokesman for the DA’s Office, said the original prosecutor left the office and the prosecutor who took over was unable to get the case together by the court’s deadlines. The DA’s Office does plan to look into the inconsistencies when deciding whether to re-file the case, he said.
A BCSO spokeswoman said she could not answer any questions Friday — including whether there are consequences for discrepancies between audio and sworn statements — because the sheriff’s office was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, witnesses told Deputy Charles Coggins that Chavez had broken into their vehicles. He chased him down and initially used a Taser but said it had no effect.
“D1 (a deputy) then jumped down off the wall, into the backyard with Charles, and started giving him commands again,” a deputy wrote in the complaint. “Charles still would not comply with D1’s commands, stating ‘(expletive) you, you’re going to have to kill me.’ ”
That’s when Coggins opened fire, wounding Chavez, who was not armed.
After the shooting, Sheriff Gonzales provided the media with the expletiveladen audio recorded on Coggins’ belt tape, as well as a printout of “key points to the audio from deputy Coggins’ belt tape.” The printout provided to the media did not include any profanities uttered by Coggins but did include the ones Chavez had said.
Neither the audio nor the printout includes the phrase “you’re going to have to kill me.”
In an interview with the Journal, Chavez’s mother, Lynn Dimas, questioned why the deputy who shot her son was still on patrol in the South Valley after shooting and killing someone else three weeks earlier. Three months after Chavez was shot, Deputy Coggins again shot at a suspect but missed.
Dimas, who used to work for the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office, went to the scene of the most recent BCSO shooting Nov. 17 because she was worried that her son was again involved. She stood in a parking lot across the street from the scene, trying to identify bodies on either side of a white pickup truck, until Chavez called her and told her he was safe.
Dimas said the way BCSO handled her son’s case changes her opinion of law enforcement and the people they have shot.
“I have compassion for the cops, and I respect them, but I think they need to stop,” she said.