SF woman suing city over crash
City officials, police, Toyota all named in legal civil action
A Santa Fe woman is suing city government, Santa Fe Police Department and Toyota of Santa Fe after receiving serious injuries from a crash that ended an officer’s pursuit of a car stolen from the dealership in April.
SANTA FE — A Santa Fe woman is suing city government, the Santa Fe Police Department and Toyota of Santa Fe after receiving serious injuries from a crash that ended an SFPD officer’s pursuit of a car stolen from the dealership in April.
The lawsuit maintains the Santa Fe police didn’t know the car was stolen during the chase, that Toyota hadn’t even reported the car missing at the time, and that the pursuing officer had no “probable cause” to initiate the chase.
Arlena Jackson, 78, got a fractured sternum, eight fractured ribs, a fractured pelvic bone, a fractured sacrum, multiple fractures in her left foot and bleeding in her lungs after a stolen Toyota Tacoma driven by Jeremy Chavez crashed into her Subaru Crosstek at the intersection of Agua Fria Street and Lopez Lane on April 7.
Chavez was arrested April 18 for aggravated fleeing and is being held at the Santa Fe County jail on several charges.
Jackson filed her civil suit in Santa Fe District Court on Friday claiming the SFPD did not have probable cause to initiate the chase and that Toyota of Santa Fe should have secured its cars better because of “the well-known fact” that stolen vehicles are much more likely to be involved in accidents.
Police spokesman Greg Gurule said Tuesday that the city or the police department doesn’t comment on pending litigation when asked if the pursuit was justified.
The car chase started when SFPD officer Jacob Martinez responded to a fight in progress at an apartment complex and saw a gray Tacoma leaving the parking lot.
The suit says Martinez didn’t have probable cause to stop the car or make an arrest and had no “reasonable basis” to believe any person in the car committed a crime or was a danger to the public. Martinez “ignored guidelines established in conformance with the New Mexico Safe Pursuit Act” and initiated a chase through city streets of up to 70 mph, the suit maintains. Jackson’s lawyers also write in the complaint that the department had the authority to stop the chase but chose not to.
According to the state Law Enforcement Safe Pursuit Act, an officer may initiate a high-speed pursuit if the suspect “poses a clear and immediate threat of death or serious injury to others or who the officer has probable cause to believe poses a clear and immediate threat to the safety of others that is ongoing and that existed prior to the high speed pursuit.”
SFPD sent out a press release a couple weeks after the chase saying that Chavez was part of a crime ring that police believe was responsible for several car thefts and other high-speed pursuits throughout town, including the one that ended with Jackson injured.
The suit says a Toyota of Santa Fe sales manager told police that someone failed to secure a gate to the dealership when at least three cars were stolen from the lot in early April. Jackson claims the dealership had the “obligation” to secure its vehicles so they aren’t stolen and involved in car crashes.