Man faces murder charge after chase
Suspect slammed into victim’s vehicle
A week after Tito Pacheco turned 39, he was in the hospital, fighting for his life.
Within a month, he was gone — family members made the decision to take him off life support.
Now, 40-year-old David Barber faces a murder charge in connection with Pacheco’s death after police say he led officers on a citywide chase that ended when Barber plowed into Pacheco’s vehicle on Albuquerque’s West Side on June 20.
The indictment against Barber, filed in 2nd Judicial District Court on Dec. 5, alleges he “intentionally” caused the death of Pacheco while fleeing an officer.
“Under circumstances or in a manner dangerous to human life,” the indictment reads, “the defendant intended to kill or knew that his acts created a strong probability of death.”
Police say Barber fled a North Valley home in a stolen recreational vehicle when detectives showed up to arrest him on several felony warrants. This led to an hourslong police surveillance, and eventual chase, across the city that resulted in multiple crashes involving both police and civilian vehicles, including Pacheco’s.
Along with an open count of murder, Barber faces charges including aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer, three counts of aggravated battery upon a peace officer with a deadly weapon, receiving or transferring stolen motor vehicles, burglary of a vehicle, criminal damage to property and leaving the scene of an accident.
Barber’s attorney declined to comment, but his mother, Teresa Perez, said all she can do is pray for her son.
Perez said her son has a past tied to selling drugs and other illicit activity. Online court records show cases against Barber dating back to the early 2000s, with charges ranging from drug trafficking and burglary to identity theft and resisting arrest.
“I try to talk to him a hundred times over,” Perez said. “I told him, ‘You’re going to hit a brick wall one day,’ and this was a horrible one, because of Mr. Pacheco. … It just kills me.”
Although Perez called Pacheco’s death a tragedy, she said “I think the police could’ve done something different” in terms of handling the chase.
Jason Bowles, an attorney for Pacheco’s family, filed a lawsuit in August against the city claiming the Pursuit Intervention Technique (PIT) maneuver used by police during the chase was “grossly negligent” and a violation of Pacheco’s civil rights.
A PIT maneuver is executed when an officer purposefully sideswipes a vehicle with the intent of stopping a chase.
According to an obituary appearing online, Pacheco was a single father of three teenagers, grew up in Martineztown and became a carpenter who built numerous homes throughout the city.
“His words and lessons taught will never be forgotten, but imprinted in the hearts of those close to him,” the obituary reads.
Barber’s trial is scheduled for February 2019.