Officer quits amid probe into ‘obscene’ drawings on woman’s body

Police chief: Department is looking into allegations stemming from Sept. party

A Santa Fe police officer under investigation over accusations that he drew what the police chief has called “obscene” and “inappropriate” images on a woman’s body during an off-duty house party with other law enforcement officers resigned Tuesday.

Officer Isaiah Anaya, who joined the Santa Fe Police Department in November 2014, submitted his resignation just before 2 p.m., effective immediately, police Chief Patrick Gallagher said in an interview at City Hall.

The resignation comes amid a separate and unrelated internal affairs investigation into the local police union president, Sgt. Troy Baker, over memes he posted on Facebook that some consider offensive. The postings included politically charged comments about Muslims, African-Americans, transgender people and immigrants. Baker remains on the job.

News of Baker’s Facebook posts broke as the mayor and City Council prepare to vote on a resolution reaffirming Santa Fe’s status as a welcoming community for immigrants and refugees and making policy changes intended to safeguard residents’ sensitive personal information, such as their immigration status, and help preserve their human and civil rights.

During Tuesday’s meeting of the city Public Safety Committee, which recommended approval of the proposed resolution, three Muslims, a transgender man and a woman spoke out against Baker and his social media posts.

“He also carries arms and makes split-second, life-and-death decisions, obviously based on grave biases,” said Fatima Van Hattum, 32, who is Muslim. “I want to ask that you to investigate whether he actually is indeed the best person to serve and protect.”

Her sister, Samia Van Hattum, who is also Muslim, said she is angry and upset over Baker sharing the memes.

Fatima Van Hattum’s husband also spoke, telling the chief that if Baker is still on duty, “How are people supposed to be safe in the streets?”

Baker could not be reached for comment Monday or Tuesday. He was quoted by the Santa Fe Reporter this week as saying “I don’t have antiMuslim views. I have anti-radical Islam views. I have friends that are Muslim. It’s not against a religion.”

One of his postings was captioned “Let’s Discuss What Islam Offers” and listed rape, beheadings, hostage taking, slavery and more.

The police chief told The New Mexican on Monday that Baker’s Facebook postings do not reflect the opinions of his department.

As for the September incident involving Anaya, Gallagher on Tuesday continued to decline to discuss any details, including the images Anaya is accused of drawing on the woman.

“I really can’t because it’s still an active investigation,” said the police chief, who has said the probe includes an examination of the role that alcohol played in the incident. “It’s still open, relatively fresh, and we’re still trying to determine if other officers were involved and, if yes, to what extent. So I really can’t comment on specifics just yet.”

Gallagher said he’s “very limited” in what he can say with regard to personnel matters.

“What I do know was drawn, I would consider offensive,” he said. “That’s about as specific as I can get right now because the details are still being worked out with some of the other officers, so I keep it as general as I can.”

Gallagher said the number of other officers who may have been involved is still undetermined.

Efforts to reach Anaya were unsuccessful. The woman on whom he allegedly drew the images hung up on a reporter when reached on Tuesday.

Gallagher learned about the incident two weeks ago and made the decision to launch an internal affairs investigation last week.

Prior to Anaya’s resignation, the department had placed the 21-year-old officer on desk duty, stripping him of his gun, badge and interactions with the public.

Gallagher said that if more than one officer was involved in the September incident, it could affect community relations.

“Because it’s so new, based upon what I know, if it’s limited to the one officer, that’ll be it,” he said. “If it’s more than one officer, I would imagine it might have an impact on community relations, but we will work on it.

“One officer has resigned,” he continued. “Hopefully it ends there, and that’s the end of it. But the investigation is still open and active, so I’d ask the community to trust us that we are doing the best we can to get to the bottom of it and [holding] everybody accountable that needs to be held accountable.”