Santa Fe DA clears officers in shooting
Suspect was shot 4 times in back
SANTA FE — Outgoing Santa Fe District Attorney Jennifer Padgett has cleared four officers who shot and killed Marvin Maestas on Santa Fe’s south side in August 2015 of criminal wrongdoing, saying their use of force in the fatal shooting was justified.
Maestas — wanted at the time for a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, N.M. — had led officers on a chase on Interstate 25 and fired a shotgun at officers before he was shot four times in the back by police, according to Padgett.
Padgett, who leaves office as of midnight New Year’s Eve, sent a letter to State Police Chief Pete Kassetas on Tuesday to inform him that Santa Fe Police Department officers Christopher Abbo and Trace Evridge, Santa Fe County Deputy Ernest Alderete and State Police officer Frank Concha will not face charges in Maestas’ death.
“All four officers had to make a split-second decision to shoot Maestas to protect their life (sic) and the lives of fellow officers, and their split-second decision was justified under New Mexico law,” Padgett wrote. The State Police investigated the shooting.
Padgett wrote that her office reviewed reports and diagrams by State Police Agent Ryan Kuehl,
the lead investigator, as well as dash and lapel camera video, witness statements given to law enforcement and officers’ statements.
According to her letter, Sgt. Mark Komadina from the Sandoval County Sheriff’s Office tried to pull Maestas over near Bernalillo after midnight on Aug. 25, 2015. Maestas, 30, fled north on I-25 in his 2014 Dodge pickup and reached speeds over 100 mph and at one point drove north in the southbound lanes. Officers from other agencies joined the pursuit.
About 1:40 a.m., SFPD officers were able to flatten Maestas’ tires with a stop stick and force him off the interstate at the Cerrillos Road interchange. Maestas got out of his truck and ran to a dark field with officers right behind him. The officers had flashlights, but Padgett wrote that it was too dark for them to see that Maestas had a shotgun, which he fired at officers as he ran. Because officers were pursuing from different directions, “most” of them decided not to fire back for safety reasons. The SFPD’s Evridge did fire seven shots at Maestas, none of which hit him.
Maestas finally stopped about three minutes later and was surrounded by officers, but he disobeyed several commands to drop his gun and panned across the officers with the gun ready to fire, Padgett says. Five officers shot at Maestas, but State Police officer Kevin Smith’s gun jammed. Maestas was pronounced dead at the scene.
“The officers continued to shoot Maestas until he no longer posed a deadly threat, and after twenty-three (23) shots Maestas was struck in the back by four (4) bullets and fell to the ground,” Padgett wrote.
Padgett wrote that after securing Maestas’s weapon, “officers began to render aid: CPR attempts were unsuccessful and Maestas succumbed to his injuries on scene.” An autopsy report from the Office of the Medical Investigator released in December 2015 said resuscitation “was not attempted” after the shooting. The OMI report said Maestas had two bullet wounds in his lower back and two more in his middle back.