ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The Bernalillo County Sheriff says his department will investigate a deputy who was caught on camera pointing a gun at a motorcyclist, but so far, he’s chalked up the incident to “standard operating procedure.”
The comments from Sheriff Manny Gonzales came during a news conference Monday afternoon, in response to the weekend incident where a group of motorcyclists are accused of surrounding a deputy patrol car driving on Tramway Boulevard in northeast Albuquerque.
Part of the incident, which occurred Saturday, October 7, was captured on camera and uploaded to social media. A roughly 20-second clip of the incident shows a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s patrol car pull alongside a motorcyclist balancing on its rear wheel. A deputy riding in the passenger seat of the patrol car can be seen aiming his patrol weapon at the motorcyclist, who then returns to two wheels and sped off.
In his first public comments about the incident, Sheriff Gonzales described the deputy’s actions as a “show of force,” while arguing that the motorcyclists were causing danger along the roadway, which the sheriff’s office says prompted 45 different 911 calls.
“Basically stating they were ran off the road, they were blocking intersections,” said Gonzales.
When asked if it was “safe” for the deputy to point his gun at the motorcyclist, Sheriff Gonzales responded by saying that the matter is “under investigation.”
“We’re still trying to get information,” said Sheriff Gonzales. “I wasn’t sitting in the car with him … everybody senses fear by different way, and obviously, by some of the calls we received, if we got 45 people calling for us concerned about their safety, then it’s not for me to question.”
Sheriff Gonzales says the “investigation” is being conducted by the sheriff’s department’s internal affairs unit.
“We have to take the totality of all the information we have, find all the facts and then we have an outcome,” said Gonzales.
While the sheriff announced an internal investigation, he also somewhat justified the deputy’s actions in pointing his patrol weapon out of a moving patrol car at the motorcyclist.
“We’d like everybody to know that driving a motorcycle on one tire is a traffic violation, and deputies are allowed to use a show of force, according to our standard operating policies,” said Gonzales.
According to Gonzales, that “show of force” policy states, “a deputy may draw a firearm for a restraining device with no intent to use it to end a high-risk situation or take a felon into custody.”
During the Monday news conference, BCSO showed several videos of motorcyclists that they claimed were the ones causing trouble Saturday. Some of the videos, which appear to be captured from the smartphone app “SnapChat,” show a group of motorcyclists performing tricks in a parking lot. One video provided to the media contains a text caption, claiming the videos were taken outside of the Quarter Celtic Brewpub, a business on the corner of San Mateo Boulevard and Lomas Boulevard.
While BCSO says there were 45 different 911 calls about the group of motorcyclists, BCSO only offered one to the media at the Monday news conference.
“They are literally doing wheelies right on the back tires,” said the female 911 caller. “I mean there must be 35, 40 of them.”
However, the caller never describes anyone being “run off the road” or “blocking intersections.”
“I guess through the follow up of asking those people (who witnessed the incident,) we’ll learn more about whether they were run off the road or not,” said Sheriff Gonzales.
Ultimately, Sheriff Gonzales says his deputy pointed the gun because motorcyclists are accused of surrounding the patrol car and that the deputy feared for his safety.
When asked what he would you say to people who are concerned about the incident and the deputy’s behavior, Sheriff Gonzales said, “Don’t base (judgment) on those 20 seconds.”
“Try to understand that these things are sometimes more complicated than they realize, and we just need more information so we can give them a better understanding of what happened from the time it started, maybe to the time it ended,” said Sheriff Gonzales.
Sheriff Gonzales says the deputy who pointed the gun remains on duty, and he’ll stay on duty through the administrative investigation.
The sheriff also refused to name either the gun-pointing deputy or the deputy who was driving the patrol car, saying he won’t do so because right now the incident is, “a personnel matter.”
Investigators say they’re still looking to speak with anyone who saw Saturday’s incident, or any of the motorcyclists involved. If you have information, call BCSO at 505-379-3742.