Albuquerque Cop Fired For Being Insubordinate, Untruthful After Fatal Shooting Also Had Lapel Camera Off During 2013 Police Brutality Incident

His attorney says it wasn't fair to fire him to set 'example' about not turning on body cameras.

APD

Last December Jeremy Dear was fired for "insubordination" and "untruthfulness" after failing to have his lapel cam turned on when he fatally shot 19-year-old Mary Hawkes, a suspected truck thief. Dear is still trying to get his job back, but now he's the subject of a new lawsuit over an incident of alleged police brutality in 2013. Dear says he was trying to break up a fight but the man he arrested, Dennis Shoemaker, says he was assaulted by the cop, not the other way around.

Action 7, the ABC affiliate in Albuquerque, reports:

t's an incident that's detailed in Dear's personnel file, which Action 7 News first obtained last year.

According to Dear's own police report, a fight broke out in front of the Bubble Lounge. Dear says he and another officer ran over. He says he yelled "Albuquerque police" several times, but the fight continued. Dear says he grabbed Shoemaker, who then started throwing punches at him. He says he held Shoemaker by the neck and punched him in the face several times before finally making the arrest.

Shoemaker sees it differently. In the lawsuit, he claims Dear never identified himself. Shoemaker says he did not lay a hand on Dear, nor did he resist arrest.

Problem is, there's no way to see what really happened because Dear did not come back with footage from his lapel camera.

Dear's attorney is arguing it wasn't fair to fire Dear in order to "set an example" about failing to turn on body cameras. Perhaps Dear should have been fired the first time he failed to turn on his body camera and proceeded to be accused of civil rights violations, in a kind of zero tolerance policy for cops?

Comments

[tarran]

How often do cops go out in the field with a non-functional radio?

How are cops who don't answer their radios or are caught turning them off disciplined or punished?

Treat the lapel cams the same way you treat radios. Problem solved.

[sarcasmic]

There's an incentive to have a functional radio. That's what they use to call for help.

There's a disincentive to have a functional cams. They record the cops' victims calling for help.

[Aresen]

Mandatory "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" comment.

I love turning that on the Copsuckers who oppose bodycams for cops.

[Pro Libertate]

Turn off the camera. Set up a renegade server and delete the e-mails. Refuse to investigate clear violations of the law. Government does one thing well, besides killing people and stealing: protecting itself.

Really, government is quite a bit like a virus.

[Trigger Warning]

I think of it as more like a parasite. Successful parasites leech from the host without killing it.

Wait, maybe it is more like a virus.

[Pro Libertate]

I've always used the parasite analogy, but in this instance, the virus analogy seems more apt.

[AlmightyJB]

You're both right. Virusite?

[Andrew S.]

Perhaps Dear should have been fired the first time he failed to turn on his body camera and proceeded to be accused of civil rights violations, in a kind of zero tolerance policy for cops?

Nice joke, Ed. It's nice to sometimes seem some levity in what can be a frustrating nutpunch article.

(OT: Got the Kickstarted graphic novel over the weekend, Ed. Looks great. And double points for actual stamps on the envelope!)

[R C Dean]

Since there will have to be a first cop fired for not using his camera, Dear's attorney is essentially arguing that no cop should ever be fired for not using his camera, as firing the first one is unfair.

[Andrew S.]

I've brought it up in threads like this before, but when the cops in Virginia murdered Sal Culosi, the cop who murdered him was given a two week suspension. The union complained because they said that was far too harsh, and the penalty for "accidentally" shooting a person dead should only be a written reprimand.

[buybuydandavis]

"in a kind of zero tolerance policy for cops?"

I know, that tickled my funny bone too.

[Hey, you!]

"It wasn't fair. I have a badge to get away with murder."

[Episiarch]

he fatally shot 19-year-old Mary Hawkes, a suspected truck thief

Being a suspected truck thief carries the death penalty?

[Florida Man]

Of course Epi shows up to apologize for truck thievery. So predictable.

[Episiarch]

"It's not a rape van! It's a spy van!"

[Florida Man]

Apologist. Damn. I'll try again later when I'm more sober.

[Hamster of Doom]

Spring break in Florida? Go next door and ask for a bump, you'll be fine.

[Florida Man]

I just need a little to get me through today. Tomorrow I'll get straight.
*scratches neck til bleeds*

[Puddin' Stick]

Florida's put laws in place limiting drinking during spring break. 🙁

[Aresen]

Being a suspected truck thief carries the death penalty?

When you get down to it, ANYTHING is a 'furtive movement' except not moving, which is 'failing to obey a lawful order.'

[Bobarian (sexbot hand model)]

In Albuquerque, I believe just sleeping outside carries a death penalty.

[Hamster of Doom]

I think a person of suitable income must complain first.

[Aresen]

So does sleeping outside in Edmonton in winter.

Mother Nature is a nasty bitch.

[Agammamon]

In Edmonton Mother Nature will kill you for sleeping outside.

In Albuquerque the cops will.

[Florida Man]

In soviet America ......

[Heroic Mulatto]

Truck rustlers deserve hangin'!

[pronomian]

Being confronted by a cop carries a possible death penalty.

[Warty]

Fuck that guy.

[Hamster of Doom]

OT-ish:

Driver sentenced to one night in jail for hit-and-run. She's someone's wife.

[sarcasmic]

As usual, the law is enforced based upon who broke it, not what they did.

[Trigger Warning]

The fire chief testified during that hearing that he did not influence the police investigation.

Uh-huh.

[Andrew S.]

Hmmmm..

During a February court hearing, a prosecutor said the incident was not the finest moment for the Aurora Police Department, whose officers allowed Garcia to leave the scene with her husband without being tested for intoxication.

And from another article on the subject, more on topic:

Opfer said at least one police body camera recorded some events at the scene, including one officer saying he did not smell alcohol. The footage also captured another officer saying Adriene Garcia must be "overmedicated."

However, the body cameras were turned off during that discussion among officers, Opfer said. The camera was turned on to record them giving her a ticket.

Of course, this is all impossible, because Dunphy says there's no such thing as a double standard.

[mad.casual]

Of course, this is all impossible, because Dunphy says there's no such thing as a double standard.

And you wouldn't want illicit devices, like body cameras, criminally impeding the judgement or recollection of police and witnesses.

[Raston Bot]

whose officers allowed Garcia to leave the scene with her husband without being tested for intoxication.

Corruption.

[Rich]

Adriene Garcia, her husband and her attorney, Danny Foster, all have said she had suffered from two traumatic brain injuries in her life that had caused her to be disabled.

But not too disabled to be fucking *driving*?

[Hamster of Doom]

It's Denver. Have you seen the I-25?

[robc]

Favorite non-pc line of mine:

Having a handicapped placard is not a license to drive like a retard.

I use this all the time, because a large percentage of handicapped drivers do, in fact, drive like a retard.

[BuSab Agent]

I always figured their driving is what caused them to be handicapped in the first place.

[Trigger Warning]

People get fired to set an example. That's one of the reasons you fire people who fuck up. If you don't want to get fired, don't be the guy who fucks up.

I admit that I think setting an example via firing is only really useful for fairly egregious examples of fucking up. Killing somebody is pretty goddam egregious.

Also, this case should present a good argument to cops that body cameras also protect them, and not just their fellow citizens. What if this cop actually did everything right and had a legitimate reason to fear for his life? I'm not saying he did, but IF he did, the camera would show that, and he would still have a job.

[sarcasmic]

He wasn't fired for killing someone. They're cool with that. He was fired for not turning in the camera.

[Trigger Warning]

You're right. I just wish it wasn't like this. I wish law enforcement careers attracted better people. Not power-intoxicated bullies.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't care for the "setting an example" school of thought. Take each case individually and judge them with some kind of uniformity.

[Agammamon]

Dear's attorney is arguing it wasn't fair to fire Dear in order to "set an example" about failing to turn on body cameras. Perhaps Dear should have been fired the first time he failed to turn on his body camera and proceeded to be accused of civil rights violations . . .

I don't care for the "setting an example" school of thought. Take each case individually and judge them with some kind of uniformity.

Then point the blame squarely at the union when line officers bitch that they got fired for forgetting the camera.

Explain to them that union arbitration rules require exceedingly strict compliance with the 'treat everyone the same' doctrine so there's no room for lesser punishments for *any* offense any more.

Since giving you a break because you forgot to turn the camera on at a routine traffic stop will mean that I couldn't later fire the cop who got cop turning his camera off before beating the shit out of a guy outside a bar.

[Trigger Warning]

I don't like it much either, but I think in extreme cases it's warranted. It happens in health care, where if you fuck up you can kill or maim somebody. Not so much if, say, you parked in the wrong spot at work.

[R C Dean]

Lemme tell you, parking in the doctor's parking lot will call down such a rain of shit, you'll wish you had been fired.

[Trigger Warning]

Ha! You're right about that! The one our docs use is now gated to prevent such a thing- after several "incidents."

[R C Dean]

Ours, too.

Naturally half of them immediately complained because they can't remember to carry their passcard with them.

Which I suspect is why the damn gate has had to be repaired three times. Right now, it looks like it has unsuccessfully attempted to stand off some suicide bombers.

[Loki]

Jeremy Dear was fired for "insubordination" and "untruthfulness"

Not for shooting and killing a peasant, natch. There's no punishment for that if you're one of the King's men.

[Rich]

He should also be sentenced to a lifetime of "just taking it" in response to "Now, Jeremy, dear ...."

[SusanM]

OT: Oh, Ted, you rascal...

http://trailblazersblog.dallas.....bill.html/

He reiterated his vow to press for a constitutional amendment that would clarify the power of state legislatures to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. If the high court does legalize gay marriage nationwide, he added, he would prod Congress to strip federal courts of jurisdiction over the issue, a rarely invoked legislative tool.

[R C Dean]

He reiterated his vow to press for a constitutional amendment that would clarify the power of state legislatures to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

If he wasn't going to do this the stupid way (by making it a narrow amendment only on Teh Gaiz), this could actually be very interesting.

The flip side of enumerated powers, identifying specifically those things that the feds have no jurisdiction over.

[perlhaqr]

Oh right. Now I know Reason is just making shit up. Like I'm going to believe that APD fired a cop for anything other than failing to respect the thin blue line.