Rio Arriba County settles suit by teen who was tased at school

Amount paid to boy, now 16, unclear

Rio Arriba County has agreed to pay “a substantial amount of money” to a special-education student with a developmental delay who was tased by a sheriff ’s deputy at Española Valley High School in May.

How much the county paid the boy, now 16, was unclear Monday because state District Judge Francis Mathew ordered the parties not to discuss the amount at a settlement approval hearing Monday.

The boy’s attorney, Shannon Kennedy, had asked the judge to close the hearing to the media, arguing the boy’s privacy interests “far outweigh” the right of the public to know the amount of the settlement.

Mathew, who already had granted Kennedy’s motion allowing the agreement to be filed under seal, declined to close the hearing but directed the parties not to discuss the amount of the settlement or the boy’s medical issues in open court.

Kennedy told the court the settlement was for “a substantial amount” and will be invested in an account and “paid out conservatively” to the boy over time.

She said the account had some “flexibility” in it to ensure the boy’s medical expenses would be covered but would not be “an open checkbook” and could not easily be undone when the boy becomes an adult.

A criminal case against former Rio Arriba County sheriff ’s Deputy Jeremy Barnes and a separate civil case against the sheriff ’s office, Sheriff James Lujan and Barnes are pending.

The state Attorney General’s Office charged Barnes with child abuse, false imprisonment, aggravated battery and violation of ethical principals of public service in November after he was seen on video tasing the boy multiple times during an altercation at the school.

Video showed the deputy entering a room where school security staff were questioning the boy, who had been detained on suspicion of drug activity. The boy had refused to be searched.

The deputy threatened to handcuff the boy, saying, “I’ll put his little ass in handcuffs and take him to Santa Fe.”

He then ordered the student to stand up and asked, “Are you going to be cooperative or uncooperative?”

“What do you think I’m doing?” the boy answered, before calling the deputy a derogatory name.

Barnes and a security guard then grabbed the boy and a brief struggle ensued, according to the video.

“I’m going to [expletive] tase you,” Barnes said, and then immediately fired the device into the boy’s chest at close range, sending him to the floor, face down. The security guard placed his knee on the back of the boy’s neck. Barnes administered two additional shocks as the boy lay screaming on the floor.

Barnes wrote in his report that the boy had been verbally uncooperative and would not allow security staff to search him.

Kennedy said Monday the account for the boy would allow some spending on housing in case he needed to move to attend another high school.

“The concern is it wouldn’t be healthy for him to return to the school where the incident occurred,” she said, adding the boy is now at a private parochial school but that it’s “not the best placement” for him.

Barnes did not return a call seeking comment Monday. The Rio Arriba County Sheriff ’s Office also did not respond to a message seeking comment for this story.

Barnes had been hired by Rio Arriba County in October 2018 after a three-year absence from law enforcement. His history with police departments in Grants and Clayton included accusations of aggressive behavior.