Roswell DA to decide SF police shooting case
A grand jury found the actions by two officers to be unjustified
SANTA FE — The district attorney in Roswell said she expects to decide by probably early next year if two Santa Fe police officers will face any charges in a nonfatal shooting of a motorist that a Santa Fe County grand jury found to be unjustified.
Janetta Hicks, whose district encompasses Chaves, Eddy and Lea counties, said Monday that she had just recently received the case from Santa Fe District Attorney Angela “Spence” Pacheco.
Pacheco handed off the decision on whether the officers should be charged to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest. It’s extremely rare for a New Mexico grand jury to rule against officers in a shooting. Pacheco presented evidence to the jury and works regularly with Santa Fe police on prosecutions.
Hicks said she had not yet reviewed all the materials and could not comment on what the range of possible charges might be.
Roberto Mendez, 26, was shot and wounded in the face after officers John DeBaca and Stephen Fonte fired into an SUV that had been reported stolen from Mendez’s mother. There were four passengers including a 4-year-old boy in the vehicle when Mendez tried to drive away from the officers after they’d spotted him at an Allsup’s near Denny’s restaurant on Cerrillos Road on Aug. 8, 2013.
Pacheco said last month the grand jury “did not feel the officers should have shot.”
Police said at the time of the shooting that when the officers tried get Mendez out of the SUV, he first backed up and hit a police car as the officers jumped out of the way and then Mendez drove toward them before they fired. But the police dash-cam video appears to show that the officers fire as Mendez is driving away and not at the officers. Six shots were fired, State Police said.
“Every district attorney calls upon other district attorneys at one time or another when there are possible conflicts of interest,” said Hicks of taking on the case. The evidence consists of “quite a bit of material,” she said.
Mendez has a criminal record that includes convictions for robbery and assault on a police officer and he was described by his sister in a police report as a heroin addict.