Ex-inmate sues over alleged abuse
Woman claims excessive force, denial of medical care at jail
The female inmate whose stomach-churning confrontation with jail officers was captured on video — grabbing national attention and triggering a local protest — is now suing Bernalillo County, alleging a culture of excessive force at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Former inmate Susie Chavez says jail officers illegally abused her and interfered with her medical care, even though they knew she suffered from severe anxiety and depression, according to the lawsuit, filed in state District Court late last month. The County Commission, jail Sgt. Eric Allen and two other correctional officers are identified as defendants.
The treatment of Chavez appeared on a video released last
year after a Journal request under the state Inspection of Public Records Act.
In the video, Chavez — a short, 115-pound woman — sobs and shrieks in pain as jail officers shock her with a stun gun, twist her wrist and spray Mace in her face.
The incident started because Chavez had put up photos in her cell, and officers were later frustrated that she wouldn’t stop crying, even as they inflicted pain on her, according to the lawsuit.
The county hasn’t yet responded in court to Chavez’s allegations.
But in an interview Thursday, jail Lt. Stephen Perkins, who heads the union that represents correctional officers, said the officers involved in the Chavez case responded appropriately.
“If you break it down, no rights were violated,” he said of the video. “The force used was appropriate. … When she is screaming the loudest, nobody is touching her.”
County spokeswoman Tia Bland said the county takes “excessive use-of-force allegations seriously.”
The jail has adopted a new use-offorce policy, she said, “and 78 percent of correctional officers have already been trained on how to appropriately gauge the amount of force needed to de-escalate a situation.”
Allen — the jail officer who wore a camera that captured video of the Chavez incident — has been on paid leave for about a year. Since then, the county has investigated allegations made against him by Chavez and at least two other inmates, though the county hasn’t announced whether it will pursue discipline against Allen.
Allen is vice president of the jail union and has helped train other officers on when to use force.
Perkins describes Allen as a good officer with sound judgment. Allen wasn’t the highest-ranking officer on scene during the Chavez incident, Perkins said, and he’s being targeted unfairly.
“He’s the hot guy, and they want to throw the darts at him,” Perkins said.
The Chavez lawsuit lists two other jail officers as defendants but doesn’t identify them fully by name.
Regardless of rank, Allen can be heard on the Chavez video giving instructions.
At one point, Chavez lies sobbing on the floor after she has been shocked with a stun gun.
“Put her in a wrist lock,” Allen tells another officer, “and twist her wrist until she shuts up and stops crying.”
Matthew Coyte, Chavez’s attorney, said New Mexico needs a radically different approach to managing its jails.
“We must change the culture in our jails that encourages this form of abuse,” he said in a written statement.
The 22-page lawsuit alleges that not only did jail officers abuse Chavez, but they prevented her from getting help from medical staff. The suit accuses Allen of stopping a psychiatric evaluation of Chavez and telling a nurse, “No, no, we’re done” when she tried to follow Chavez out of the room.
At the time of the September 2015 incident, Chavez had been in jail about 16 days on a heroin possession charge and a warrant. She was later released into a housing program that helps ex-inmates.
Chavez now lives in Bernalillo County and isn’t in jail, according to her lawsuit.