Board will review Hawkes shooting
Albuquerque’s Police Oversight Board will review the internal police investigation into the shooting of 19-year-old Mary Hawkes with an eye for policy violations and the quality of APD’s investigation.
The case will mark the third police shooting reviewed by the civilian board, which looks at police shootings and serious use-of-force cases as well as complaints against officers. The board also is tasked with making policy recommendations to the department.
The Hawkes shooting occurred in April 2014, and the District Attorney’s Office hasn’t announced whether Jeremy Dear, the officer who shot and killed Hawkes, will face charges
or whether his actions are deemed justified. But the civilian board looks at different matters than the district attorney.
“It could be anything related to the incident. It’s the event, not just the officer,” said Joanne Fine, a member of the board. “Our job is to look for any policy violation and give our opinion.”
Edward Harness, executive director of the Civilian Police Oversight Agency, told board members at a meeting earlier this month that the district attorney didn’t object to the civilian board beginning its review of the administrative investigation prior to the completion of the criminal case.
Albuquerque police have released their criminal investigation into the shooting, which has been submitted to the district attorney. Police haven’t released any details of the administrative investigation. It has been requested by the Journal and others.
A lawsuit has been brought against the city by Hawkes’ family in connection with the shooting.
The oversight board will get access to those investigative reports and other materials that are not public records, such as Garrity statements, which are compelled statements that public employees are required to give during internal investigations, according to the ordinance the board operates under. Those types of statements can’t be used against a person during a criminal trial.
The Police Oversight Board has reviewed and made recommendations after reviewing administrative investigations into two shootings so far this year.
The board examined the shooting of undercover Detective Jacob Grant by Lt. Greg Brachle. The board found Brachle violated numerous policies and recommended that Brachle be fired. The lieutenant retired days before the recommendation was made.
The board also announced this month that it had finished its review of the fatal shooting of Alfred Redwine by officer James Eichel. Redwine was armed with a gun and fired two rounds into the ground in front of police before he was shot.
The board found that Eichel didn’t violate any policies and commended an on-scene sergeant for trying to deescalate the situation.
They did, however, recommend that police investigate why an onscene supervisor had a young child in a police vehicle on scene at the time of the shooting.
And board members were critical of some aspects of the police investigation: Investigators didn’t do a gunshot residue test on Redwine’s hands or collect all the bullets fired during the encounter.
“The quality of the investigation could have been better even though we agreed with the outcome,” Fine said.