Ex-DPS investigator on civil rights panel target of 2011 suit
SANTA FE — One of the governor’s appointees to the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission was the target of a 2011 civil lawsuit that was dismissed after the state Department of Public Safety agreed to pay roughly $35,000 under a settlement.
However, a spokeswoman for
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Victor Rodriguez was later cleared of wrongdoing by an internal agency investigation that found no evidence of excessive force on his part.
“If the case had gone to court, it would have been determined he was improperly accused,” said Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett, who pointed out the settlement
agreement was approved during the administration of former Gov. Susana Martinez.
Rodriguez, who was appointed to the fledgling nine-member Civil Rights Commission by the governor last month, is the former police chief of Belen.
Before that job, he worked with the Department of Public Safety’s Special Investigations Division, among other positions.
According to a civil lawsuit, Rodriguez was conducting an undercover DPS investigation at a Clovis bar in 2009 when he and another officer began questioning a woman who had bought two alcoholic drinks.
When a patron tried to intervene, Rodriguez allegedly used a Taser on him and handcuffed him with his foot on his lower back before advising the patron he was a law enforcement officer, the suit alleged.
Charges against the patron were eventually dropped, and the civil lawsuit against both Rodriguez and the Department of Public Safety was filed in 2011, alleging assault, battery, false imprisonment and other offenses.
After being transferred from state District Court to federal court, the lawsuit was settled for about $35,000 after a five-hour conference with Judge Gregory Wormuth in Las Cruces, according to the state General Services
Department.
The plaintiff in the lawsuit is now dead, and his Clovis attorney, Tye Harmon, did not respond to requests for comment about the case.
The New Mexico Civil Rights Commission was created under a bill passed by the Legislature during a June special session.
Its members, who have already held two meetings, are tasked with coming up with recommendations by mid-November on possible changes to state law regarding civil rights deprivations.
Specifically, the commission will be scrutinizing qualified immunity, a legal doctrine that protects law enforcement officers and other government officials from being held personally liable in most cases.
Debate over qualified immunity and other police use-of-force issues intensified this summer after a series of incidents in New Mexico and around the nation, including the death of George Floyd, an African American man, while in the custody of Minneapolis police officers.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez has also been on the other side of lawsuits dealing with police use-of-force issues.
After being placed on leave as Belen’s police chief last year, Rodriguez filed a lawsuit claiming city officials had retaliated against him for reporting excessive force cases involving police officers.
The city eventually entered a settlement with Rodriguez that paid him more than $187,000 in exchange for his agreeing to drop the lawsuit, according to KRQE-TV.
The Governor’s Office cited that case as evidence of Rodriguez’s qualifications to serve on the Civil Rights Commission, adding that he would bring a different perspective to the panel, which also includes attorneys, active and retired judges, a legislator and a county sheriff.
“Chief Rodriguez’s career, including his clear record of enforcing consequences for officers who used excessive force, is a testament to his qualifications for appointment,” Sackett said.