Deputy in deadly shooting ID’d
For second time this year, lawman uses lethal force
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office has identified Deputy Patrick Ficke as one of several law enforcement officers who fired at a fleeing vehicle Nov. 26 in Torrance County, killing a woman and injuring a man who now faces a slew of charges.
It is the second time Ficke has discharged a firearm this year while on duty.
Sheriff Adan Mendoza confirmed this week Ficke was the local deputy who fired at Jacob Montoya, 26, and Christy Dimas, 29, on U.S. 285 near Clines Corners during a highspeed pursuit after the couple was accused of robbing a Santa Fe Starbucks at gunpoint.
Montoya emerged from the vehicle after it crashed south of Clines Corners and was taken into custody. He was treated at an Albuquerque hospital for gunshot wounds and later booked in the Torrance County jail. Dimas was pronounced dead at the scene.
In a pretrial detention hearing Dec. 9 to determine if Montoya should be held in jail until his trial on 15 felony counts, Ficke said he fired a total 49 rounds through his windshield at the couple’s Kia during the chase before the suspects’ car went over a median and through a fence and crashed into a tree.
According to audio recording of the hearing, held in the 7th Judicial District Court, Ficke said he had been on patrol in the city that morning when he received notice of an armed robbery.
He went to look for the vehicle — a black Kia sedan with no license plate — and planned to set up a spike strip. But when he encountered the car, he said, a chase ensued. As he headed south on U.S. 285 behind the couple’s black Kia, a passenger in the vehicle fired shots at him, he told the court.
Ficke said he chased the vehicle toward Torrance County, reaching speeds of up to 120 mph, according to the audio recording.
The deputy said he believed someone in the vehicle also fired at a car passing by, indicating severe danger to the public. That’s when he fired his rifle back.
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office has not yet released video of the incident from Ficke’s body or dashboard cameras. New Mexico State Police, which is investigating the shooting, also has not provided video.
Body camera footage released by the
Torrance County Sheriff’s Office shows a Torrance deputy attempting to use a spike strip to stop the fleeing Kia. When the black car speeds past, the deputy fires five rounds at the car as several state police and Santa Fe County patrol vehicles follow.
Ficke can be heard later in the body camera footage, after the Kia crashed, attempting to negotiate with the suspects to coax them out of the vehicle.
“This is the SFCSO. We know you’re inside. We need you to come out with your hands up so we can give you aid. We want to give you aid,” he says. “We have you surrounded. We’re not leaving. We’re concerned. We don’t want to see you hurt. Come out of the vehicle with your hands up and let us render you aid.”
He tells the Torrance County deputy his vehicle “took some rounds.”
New Mexico State Police last week identified the state police officer who fired at the vehicle as Bryan Donis, who has been employed with the agency for four years. He was placed on standard administrative leave after the incident, the agency said in a news release.
Mendoza said Ficke was placed on administrative leave for three days under the office’s policy and has since been moved into the investigations unit.
The deputy has worked for the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office for more than a year. He spent 10 years prior with the Albuquerque Police Department and two years as an officer in the village of Bosque Farms, state police said in a news release in July, when Ficke was named as the officer involved in another shooting.
Ficke fatally shot Edward Santana that month in Tesuque after Santana stabbed his mother to death and approached officers while waving a fence post.
When asked Monday if Ficke’s two fatal shootings in six months was any concern, Mendoza said he could not comment on the incidents until the district attorney has determined whether the deputy’s use of force was proper.
“That’ll be a determination that’s up for the district attorney to review,” the sheriff said. “But there are some officers that when they’re very proactive, they do get into situations, and sometimes you’re just reacting to the calls that you’re responding to and the actions of the people that you’re interacting with.”