Santa Fe police officer strikes, kills pedestrian

Officer was transporting prisoner; incident under investigation

SANTA FE — A Santa Fe police officer’s vehicle hit and killed a pedestrian on Thursday night while he was taking a suspect to the Santa Fe County jail.

Francisco Navarrette, 41, was in the middle of Cerrillos Road near the intersection with Jorgensen Road when he was hit by the official police vehicle driven by Officer Lucas Sena, according to the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, which is investigating the incident.

SFCSO spokesman Juan Rios said Friday that Sena was transporting a person he had arrested south on Cerrillos Road around 11:40 p.m. Thursday when he hit Navarrette. Rios said Navarrette, who has a Santa Fe address, died at the hospital and his next of kin was notified in El Paso.

Rios said he didn’t know if Navarrette was in a crosswalk. He said the case is still under investigation and the fatal crash team had not finished its report as of Friday afternoon.

Greg Gurule, spokesman for the Santa Fe Police Department, said Sena was not injured and the suspect in his vehicle complained of neck pain but was OK. Sena is a cadet, according to the city’s website. City records custodian Bernadette Romero said Sena has been with the department since May 2013 but couldn’t say if he was on leave.

Gurule refused to say if Sena was placed on leave after the incident and referred all questions to the sheriff’s office. Rios said the sheriff’s office doesn’t have personnel information for SFPD officers.