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Edit Transcript - Lucky to be Alive, Officer Shares Her Story to Investigators!!!
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Lucky to be Alive, Officer Shares Her Story to Investigators!!!
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Today is September 24th, 2020. The time now is 1:02 p.m. here at 500 Marquette Boulevard, sweet 700, the office of Mr. Robelis. Present in the room and speaking is Agent Sean Larson, New Mexico State Police Investigations Bureau. And at this time, I'll have the other individuals present in the room state their name. Agent Charles Venley, please. Agent Brian AC, FBI. Jack Burke, US Attorney's Office. Paul Mets, also from the US Attorney's Office. Officer Sharon Durant, New Mexico State Police. Luis Ro, Officer Durant's attorney. Officer Dan, would you prefer officer or would you prefer Mr. How would you like to be addressed for the appeal? Well, Mr. Fine. Okay. So, Mr. Anne, understanding that we are with the New Mexico State Police's Criminal Investigations Bureau and at this time we are conducting a criminal investigation. Um, at this time, your statement isn't voluntary. It is not subject to a mandatory statement compared to a internal affairs investigation. So, at any point during this interview, if you choose to discontinue speaking with me or interject and and discontinue the interview, you may do so. Do you understand that? Yes, sir. Okay. Um, there's a few things we're going to get into before we start talking a little bit more. Do you have any questions for me or Agent Vul at this time? Not at this time. Okay. So, ma'am, you're a patrol officer. Yes. Okay. If you want, sir, I I've um prepared a statement for you guys. If you want, I can go through that statement and then answer any questions afterward if you would like. How would you like to proceed, Mr. Okay. Also too, just for your guys' information, we also have the they set up the projector already for the video. If you guys want to watch the video prior to So, it was Saturday, September 12th, 2020. It was my day off. I had recently been assigned to the criminal enforcement unit K9 in June. A position I had worked hard for. It was a position I wanted since the recruit school of state police almost seven years ago. I was assigned to the HSI border enforcement security and addiction task force or best task force as a federal task force officer or TFO. I had my assigned narcotics detection K9 EA with me that day and since being assigned I took it upon myself to learn as much as possible as quickly as possible. So I worked a lot of overtime. I had been assisting with the training of two new dogs we had just gotten for our team and learning the traits to become an instructor. And it was then inspiring to be the next K9 instructor because the two instructors we had would be retiring in just a couple of years. So I was very excited to get back to work because we hadn't been able to work the road in almost two weeks due to the dog training. I had talked with one of my shift partners the day prior and we had planned to go up to Gallup, New Mexico to work traffic. I started my shift that morning at 8:00 a.m. I was eager to get on the road and to see what kind of traffic we had that day. I decided to work traffic on my way to Gallup. And as I got to the median of the 126 on Interstate 40, I stopped to watch traffic for a bit. My way of patrolling traffic is a lot different than the normal patrol officer. I look for people who are involved with criminal activity on the highway. I look for as much as possible ranking in smuggling narcotics to human trafficking, people with warrants, stolen vehicles, or even missing persons. I look beyond the normal traffic stop to ensure the safety of our communities and do my part in the never uh rising fight against crime. So, with that being said, it was approximately 9:30 a.m. when I observed a truck pulling a fifth wheel trailer traveling eastbound on Interstate 40. As a vehicle approached, I observed a white GMC pickup truck slightly weave towards the center line just peeking out from behind the fifth wheel trailer. This caught my attention because the vehicle was following dangerously close to the travel trailer, allowing no reaction time if something were to go wrong. The vehicle continued to follow the fifth wheel at the same distance as it passed by me. I observed the driver with his hands at 10 and two and his arms were very stiffened. He had this thousandy stare as if he didn't know what was going on around him. This raised even more concern for the driver's safety and the safety of the occupants ahead of him in the because the vehicle was traveling approximately one car length behind the travel trailer and the driver didn't seem very aware of what's going on. So I turned through the median and I pursued the vehicle. As I caught up to the vehicle, I checked the license plate number of 347 Grand Tom Young out of Arizona. I checked it through my I checked the plate through my CAD which uses the NCI system. The vehicle came back to Robert Nelson on a multicolored GMC pickup with no status of the registration. The vehicle I was looking at was white. So I wasn't sure if the plate belonged to the vehicle and if the registration was valid. At that point I had probable cause to stop the vehicle for the unsafe following distance and the registration not matching the vehicle or what it was showing. I wanted to verify that the vehicle in fact was the same vehicle that the registration was referring to and that it was valid. I also wanted to educate the driver on the hazardous hazards uh following dangerously close distance and what could happen should the travel trailer need to stop or slow down. So I engaged my emergency equipment initiating a traffic stop. The vehicle immediately pulled over to the right shoulder. I got out of my unit and observed the vehicle go into park. I move with a purpose around my unit towards the passenger side of the vehicle. Through my training and experience as a police officer, the traffic stop is one of the most dangerous tasks we have. I move with a purpose to allow as little time as possible for the occupants to sit and ponder. I didn't know who I was dealing with that day, whether it was a general motoring public or possibly a criminal who was committing a crime, about to commit a crime, or had already committed a crime. I learned to move purposeful, to allow little time so that the occupants I am conducting occupants I am conducting business with had little to no time to plan to either hurt me or flee. As I came around the backside of the unit to make my approach on the passenger side, I saw a metal plate in the back of the truck that was not factory. I found this odd. I am shamed to find abnormalities relating to criminal activities. This metal plate caught my attention because it created a void of concealed space the way that the plate was positioned at the up angle towards the tailgate. So, it kind of made like a triangle of extra space. I continued to watch the driver and there was no movement. The windows were still up. I found this strange. The general motoring public will usually search for you in a mirror. As soon as they find you, then they start to roll down their window on that side, and they'll place their hands on the wheel, as if they're not posing a threat to you. The driver's hands weren't seen on the steering wheel, and the windows remained completely sealed. I'd reached the rear pillar of the cabin. I kept my body close to the metal frame. I raised my left hand to knock on the glass as I peeked into the view of the window. Suddenly, my body experienced enhanced danger, and all I could see was the bill of a baseball cap and a gun barrel that looked the size of the driver's face. The next series of events happened in just a few seconds, but I'm going to break them down play by play. I also experienced auditory exclusion and time slowed down. Talking too much. At that point, I heard the glass break as if it was shot through. It was a very distinctive sound. My right eye suddenly went black, and I reached up to my face, thinking that I had gotten shot in the head. I desperately started to try and protect myself with my hands, taking small steps backwards to create distance. I fell to the ground, and everything was moving so slow that when I blinked, it seemed to go black. I started to think to myself, I promised my wife I would come home no matter what. And I'm not going to let this person who hasn't said two words to me, take me away from the family, from the people that I love. I wasn't ready to just lay there and let this person kill me. I thought for sure if I didn't get up now, he was going to get out of his vehicle and shoot me until he was satisfied that I was dead. from numerous training videos and stories that I have read or heard when a police officer is shot with no help and doesn't fight back. They are killed and I didn't want that to be me. I got up to my feet and the vehicle was still there. I drew my weapon out and my hands were hurting so bad. I wasn't sure where I got hit or how bad my injuries were. All I knew is I wasn't ready to die. My vision was blurred and I couldn't make out the driver's head. All I could make out was the driver's headrest in the back window. I knew the person who was shooting at me was sitting there and I needed to stop him. I needed to make sure this person wasn't going to get out and keep shooting at me. I didn't want this person to kill me or leave to hurt others. I aimed at the headrest and started to fire my weapon. The vehicle started to move forward. I could see other vehicles near the suspect. As it pulled towards the roadway, I stopped firing. I wasn't sure if I had hit the driver and his body was consciously reacting to being hit or if he was fleeing the scene. I stopped and I waited. As the vehicle pulled back into traffic and continued continued driving, I knew I had to stop him. I ran back to my unit and observed both of my hands bleeding heavily and the pain was now throbbing up through my arms. It hurt so bad to open my door. I grabbed my radio and I notified dispatch that shots had been fired and I had been hit. I told dispatch the vehicle had fled the scene and it was a white GMC pickup truck with a single driver, a single male driver and I had shot through the back window. I ran around to the driver's side in my unit and noticed that I had left my passenger door open. Figure um I ran back around the driver's side or back to the passenger side, shut the door and then ran back to the driver's side and got in and started to pursue the vehicle. I placed my handgun in my lap to have easy access. The pain of trying to get my weapon from the holster was intensifying. I wanted to be sure that if the driver began to shoot at me again, I wouldn't struggle to retrieve my weapon. I informed dispatch that I was in pursuit of the vehicle. Dispatch asked for a direction of travel. That point, I was feeling so weak and trying to make sense of what had just happened that I was stumbling in my words. I stopped and took a deep breath and I told myself, "You're okay. You're good. You got this." Holding the steering wheel, I could see the blood running down my hands. My body was shaking from the incident and the pain kept getting worse. I relate to dispatch that he was headed eastbound and I was unsure of his location at this moment. I looked down at my speedometer and I felt like I was going fast, but I was only doing around 80 miles hour. Told myself, "What are you doing? Step on the gas. You have to get this guy. You have to make sure someone else doesn't stop him before you because they don't know the dangers that he poses." It started to speed up, reaching approximately 100 milesPH. I observed the vehicle in front of me approximately 100 meters, but because of the enhanced danger, it seemed like he was right next to me. And that hole that I had shot him in his back window was now the size of a basketball. I notified dispatch that I located the vehicle and we were now only traveling 70 mph, passing mile post 134. I turned off my emergency lights to help deter him from knowing that I had caught up to him. But as soon as I turned off my hazard or my lights, he turned his hazards on. The vehicle started to weave from left to right and I watched the driver lean down towards the floorboard. When the driver sat back up, I I observed an object that resembled a rifle with a sling. I slowed down abruptly, trying to create distance, and I notified dispatch. I knew a rifle had the capabilities of penetrating through the vehicle except the engine block. I knew if I didn't create distance, I wasn't giving myself any chance of surviving a second attack should he start to fire. When the suspect seeing that I had slowed down, he abruptly pulled over to the right shoulder, stopping near mile post 135. I drove into the median and seen the driver door start to open. I holstered my handgun and turned into the median and started traveling westbound. I retrieved my rifle from the gunlock and thought to myself, I'm going to be ready this time. I was going to create distance and make him bring the fight to me. I knew my capabilities with a rifle. It wasn't going to be ambushed again. I positioned my rifle in the dash with the buttstock on my shoulder. So, my barrel was on the dash. My buttstock was on the shoulder. I attempted to um put a round in the chamber with my left hand, but the pain was so bad and was only intensifying that I couldn't. I then put my left arm over my rifle and use my right ring finger or index finger and middle finger to pull the charging handle back to place around into the chamber. I turned through the median and drove across the eastbound lanes of the shoulder onto the shoulder. I attempted to make contact with the suspect using the PA system, but I had no response. The suspect stood by his driver's side door. I held my position and I observed two Laguna PD units top the hill. I observed the suspect walk towards the back of his vehicle with his hands up. One of the Luna and PD units came to my position and as he drove behind me, I happened to look behind me and now seemed the truck pulling the fifth wheel closing in on my location, driving on the shoulder. It startled me because it was the same exact truck and trailer that the truck was initially following. I was worried that the occupants of the vehicle had the same motives of the suspect and were going to open fire on me and do the same. I tugged into the door jamb of my vehicle and observed the driver door of the truck behind me begin to open. A male subject exited and I began giving him commands to put his hands up. I told the Laguna officer to watch the male suspect ahead of us and I would deal with the male subject behind us. I told the male to keep his hands up as I pointed my rifle towards him. I had him lay on the ground with his hands behind his head. The driver advised me his son ahead his his son was ahead of us and wanted to know what was going on. I saw that his son had just [ __ ] shot me. He looked at me with a blank stare as if that didn't happen. I told him sarcastically, "No, I'm wearing blood for no reason." The driver stated, "Oh my god, ma'am, I'm so sorry. I don't know what's wrong with him." I asked him if he had any weapons on him, and he stated he had a pocketk knife in his left pocket. I grabbed the knife out of his pocket and threw it into the field away from him, patting him down, ensuring there were no other weapons. I told him to sit down and not to move. I returned to my unit, advising Laguna, "Let's move forward." We got in our units and moved forward, and I started to give commands on the PA. I observed the suspect's hands start to go down, and I told him to put his hands up or I would shoot. The suspect quickly put his hands up and I stopped my unit because I knew he could hear what I was saying. I set my rifle up on the door jamb of my unit on the driver's side and kept my right hand on the rifle and used my left hand for the PA. I started to give him commands to walk towards us slowly. As the male subject started walking towards us, he was a white male with brown hair. He looked to be around six feet tall and he was obese. As the driver walked towards us, he had a very smug look on his face as he looked towards me, like if he was proud of what he had done to me. I stopped him approximately 15 ft away from my unit and advised Laguna officers to move forward. I had them covered. They moved forward and handcuffed the suspect. They brought him back to my unit and I advised them to put him in one of their units. The suspect looked at me and had kind of a smirk on his face. I placed my rifle on the floorboard of my unit and the Laguna officers provided me with some bandages to try and stop the bleeding. New Mexico State Police Sergeant Sandival and Sergeant Kle arrived on scene and they cleared the vehicle. I walked to the passenger side of my unit and got down in a capture stands. Took a deep breath. I was flooded with so many emotions. It was overwhelming. I was thankful that I had just survived a sur series of events and relieved that we were able to take him into custody without anyone else being injured. I wanted to speak with my family and let them know that I was okay. The ambulance arrived on the scene and I was transported to UNM Beach for my injuries. Would you mind answering some questions after this? Yes, sir. At the point when you approached the passenger side of the vehicle, the male discharged the firearm. Did you hear how many times he shot? I could just hear the glass breaking. I couldn't tell you how many known were shot. Okay. Um, and after you were shot, you made mention that you took some steps back and created distance. Um, at any point when you were taking your steps back, did you lose your footing or did you stay upright and continue to walk back? No, I fell. So, I was falling backwards attempting to block my face with my hands. Okay. To protect myself. And as I was walking backwards, I stumbled over and fell. Okay. And when you arose to your feet, um, you retrieved your your firearm. Yes. Is that a duty issue firearm or is that your personal select carry? No, it's my duty issue. Okay. I'm sorry, your department issue. It's my department issue. Do you recall how many times you discharged your weapon, man? I couldn't tell. Okay. All I know is I fired until I seen the vehicle move. Okay. And as the vehicle started to move, I seen the hazards of other people around. There was another vehicle near him. Okay. Going the same direction and then there was vehicles coming up um westbound and I didn't want to hit any of them. That moment that you walked up to the passenger side window and you heard the concussions from from the firearm and you said you shielded your your face. What were you what was going through your mind? I thought he was going to kill me. I I didn't understand what was going on at that point because it was all happening so fast, but I knew the sound of the bullets breaking the glass. It's very distinctive sound. Um, so I knew I was being fired at, but I didn't understand why because I hadn't talked to him. Okay. Is you returned fire? Was there anything that you were thinking specifically that was going through your head or anything that was that you were feeling? I was in fear. I thought if I didn't try to stop him, he was either going to get out of the vehicle and continue shooting at me until he was satisfied that I was dead or he was going to leave the scene and he was going to hurt somebody else. Okay. Now, going back to the beginning of your statement, you said that you were stationary. Um, but ultimately, you affected a traffic stop on this vehicle. And what I want to touch on is you stated you engaged your emergency equipment. Yes. What does that mean? So, engaging my emergency equipment means that I've activated my lights. Okay. And that my camera recording system had turned on. Okay. Do you know if your silent turned off? No. Okay. I usually just turn on the lights and if I don't get a response, I'll bleep my siren at someone until they respond. But like I said, as soon as I turn the switch for my lights to come on, he immediately pulled over. There was no hesitation. And your incar camera was running? Yes. And operational? Yes. Were you wearing a body camera? Yes. Was that functioning? Yes. And you were approaching the the vehicle. Did you hear him say anything? I understand the windows were still closed up. He didn't say anything. He didn't move. He didn't do anything until he had my head in his sights. Okay. And touching bases on your vehicle just a little bit more. You said you're a K9 officer. Is that correct? Yes. What is your department vehicle? My department vehicle is a Chevy Tahoe. Okay. Two or four-door? It's four-door. Okay. And do you have a light bar on top or do you have concealed lights within the cab of your vehicle? There's a light bar on top. Okay. Would you consider that a fully marked patrol vehicle? Yes. Can you describe what a fully marked state police patrol vehicle looks like? It's a majority of the vehicle is black. The top is white. Okay. It has a New Mexico State Police badge with the two white lines down the side of the door showing it's clearly marked. There's a state police um identifier on the front of the grill. There's K9 decals going towards the back of the rear quarter panels of the unit identifying that it's a K9 unit. And on both of the passenger doors, it gives a warning showing that there's a dog. Don't approach. And then on the rear, it's clearly marked state police as well. Is there anywhere else on the vehicle that has writing on it to indicate police, state police, New Mexico State Police? To your knowledge or recollection? Um, to my knowledge, no. There's just the gold lettering on the front, the gold lettering on the back, and then our big badge that covers majority of the door on the on the passenger front passenger and driver go. I'm going to go over just a couple of housekeeping questions that state police conducts um for the purposes of our OIS reporting. Do you have any prior law enforcement training? I do not. Were you ever um employed by another agency but did not attend academy? No. Do you have any advanced training? Yes. Can you touch on that, please? Um, for criminal interdiction and I've gone through DIAP, two different classes. I've been through Desert Snow. What is DAP? Um, I couldn't tell you what it stands for. It's It's another criminal interdiction. I have the certificates. If you need copies of them, I can provide copies later. It's interdiction. So, is that related to your position as a canine officer? Yes. Okay. On top of that, I've had um other advanced training for just law enforcement, criminal interviews, um criminal, I mean, anything to do with the criminal, what we do for our job. I've had some type of advanced training on it. And then we go through a two-year um retraining. And you are a task force officer. Is that correct? Can you reiterate again? Through which federal agency? Through HSI Homeland Security. Okay. It'd be a TFO as you called it. You would be federally commissioned. Is that correct? Is a federal officer? Yes. Does your agency have a use of force policy? as New Mexico State Police. Yes. Have you received training on that use of force policy? Yes. So, it's co right now. Everyone seems to be wearing different uniforms. We're not quite wearing the traditional black and gray uniform with the suicide strap that we've been accustomed to for so many years. What were you wearing that day? Um, so I was wearing my assigned uniform for K9, which is green. pants, a black New Mexico State Police polo. Um, my badge was displayed on the polo along with my name Eston. Um, and over my black shirt, I had a outer vest carrier that clearly states state police across the chest. And I had another patch with our badge. Um, I wore my duty belt, which is, um, one of the quick release belts that I can wear on the outer of a regular belt. On there, I had my um, my badge, a set of handcuffs, my baton, and then two magazines, and then my duty issued weapon was on a drop down holster on my right leg. Okay. Do you carry a taser? I do, but it was in my unit. Okay. Where was your baton? My baton was over on my left side. I believe I lost it cuz when I arrived at the hospital, um, they gave me my belt when the tunnel was gone. So, I think it fell out whenever I fell. That shirt that you were wearing, you're State Police. Does it have any patches? Does it say State Police on the sleeves? It has my badge patch on it. It doesn't say State Police or anything on it. No shoulder patches. No shoulder patches. Okay. But you did state that you were wearing an outer carrier vest. Is that correct? Which does say state police. Yeah. The front plate it says state police and then I have the badge on top and then on the back it says state police clearly as well. All in yellow lettering. Did you have the issue badge of office? Yes. Where was that? It was located on my belt. Okay. And what is your badge number? 303. Do you know if at any point during the incident your clothing was damaged? Um, I know my pants have a lot of blood on them and my vest had a lot of blood on them and I believe my vest carrier had a skim of a bullet. I want to say it was the right shoulder, but I'm not quite sure. As soon as I got to the hospital, they took my vest. So, I wasn't able to really look at the extent of my injuries and they would be criminal um investigation crime scene teams. Do you have a common practice of how many live rounds you keep in your magazine? I did, but I explained to the crime scene that day. We had just recently been to the range and I hadn't had an opportunity to set everything up. Okay. So, I usually run um 17 in my handgun and then 16. So, it'd be 17 complete rounds. So, one in the chamber and then 16 in the magazine and my handgun and then 16. But I don't think I had it set up like that that day because we had just recently been to the range and I hadn't had an opportunity to get everything set back up as I usually do. Okay. So, typically you have it one way, but in this specific incident, you're unsure of how many rounds may have been in. If anything, it would be minus one because usually when I go to the range, I don't swap out my first round for a brass round. I just fire the D round out. Okay. You stated you were on your way to Gallup. Is that correct? Yes. What state police district is Gallup? Six. So that'd be D6. Yes. Okay. And at the time of the incident, were you on or which channel? Which radio frequency were you on? D5. D5. I was still in D5. He didn't switch over to D6 till the 117. Okay. And once you saw the vehicle, the white truck that you affected the traffic stop on, you said stated you had engaged your emergency lights um prior to prior to affecting that traffic stop. Were you on a a different traffic stop or what had you you completed doing prior to you making the decision to pull making the decision to pull over that vehicle? I was sitting in the median just observing traffic go by. I had made one traffic stop prior to Okay. Um but this was a totally different incident. I had already cleared from the previous incident. Okay. And what was the disposition of that stop? Um a warning. Okay. I believe it was a warning station. After the incident took place, when the Lagouna officers took the suspect into custody, at any point did you try to render aid to the suspect? The suspect I did not I was concerned with my injuries and the Lagona PD officer was dealing with him. Okay. So I had assumed that they would render him aid if he needed to have a Okay. I was in no position to render aid myself as my hands were kind of deapigated at that point. I understand you said once you got to the hospital um at some point crime scene took your clothing or anything like that but between the time of the incident to the time that you got to the hospital. Did you alter your uniform? Did you change in any way? I took my vest off but my vest and all of my belongings right next to me the entire time. Nothing was altered. Nothing was changed. It just went from being on my body to being on my feet because they had to take off my shirt to get an IV started to um do what they needed to do for my medical care. And that's while you were in the ambulance on the way from the scene to the hospital. Is that correct? Yes. And which hospital did you receive treatment? At UNH being University of Mexico Hospital. Yes. [Music] Did you do you have anything? Uh, yes. Um, how many hours of sleep did you get prior sh? Six or seven? Six or seven? You feel arrested? Yes. And then also to any drugs or alcohol prior to shifting? No. All right. And then uh your rifle. You didn't mention your rifle. You got to have the the lock. Yes. Uh how's the ammunition on that one? Usually um it's usually 28 rounds total. I like to leave two out or um to give the screen uh less compression on it so it doesn't alter. So it's usually 28 rounds. So there might have been one in the chamber and 25 rounds or 26 rounds or 27 rounds, I'm sorry, 27 rounds left on the Um, were you did you self dispatch on the cab or did you call out the traffic stop on over the radio? Self dispatch. Self dispatch. And then you did say you were in the in the median. Were you facing uh was it westbound or I was facing eastbound traffic. So I was facing westbound in the median. And then uh after the incident I did uh you did mention something about a sling. Yes. Rifle. Can you go over that? Uh so as I came up on the suspect's vehicle, I started to slow down and let notify dispatch. And I thought to myself, I should turn off my lights cuz if not, he's going to know that I found him. So, I was trying to give myself more time and allow my backup to start coming towards me because I didn't know how far out anyone was. All I know is I didn't have anyone there with me. So, when I shut off my lights, his hazards went on. When his hazards went on, the vehicle started to swerve from left to right. And you could see him go down like this. And when he came back up, there was an object that resembled a rifle. And how I knew it was a rifle cuz the way the screen came off of the side of the barrel. That hit me instantly. Oh, here we go. Round two. So, and and you're viewing this from your unit from behind. You're viewing everything from the rear window of the rear window. Yes. And you you saw his head disappear. Go down. Yeah. His head went down. He goes down like this. And then all of a sudden as he comes up, something comes up on the seat and a swing comes off. I knew it was a rifle. Just to touch base on a couple things. I apologize, man. So, after the incident itself, um, and I learned this after reviewing your body camera video, um, you reach into the cab of your vehicle and you grab a cell phone out of your cab and you and you call or you dial the contact here and Sergeant Wood. Okay. Who is he a sergeant? He's a sergeant with New Mexico State Police. He's my supervisor. Okay. I was trying to contact him to contact my wife and let her know that I was okay. Did Sergeant Wood answer? He did not. Okay. After the incident, who was your buddy, officer? Uh, Selena Hernandez. Did you talk with Officer Hernandez about the incident? Not really. When you say not really, can you elaborate on what you did discuss? She asked me if I was okay. Just really, she was asking like questions of concern for me. if I was okay, you know, am is there anything that I needed? Did she need to call? There was not really talk about the incident, just about my injuries and if I was okay or not. Okay. So, the discussion primarily revolved around your personal well-being as well as calls to your loved ones. Yes. The actual incident pertaining to the use of force was or was not discussed. Was not discussed. Thank you. So again, referring back to your body camera video after the male was taken into custody um with an officer's advantage to your hands. In the video, I watch you go from the driver's side of your vehicle to the passenger side. Yes. And you stand there for a couple seconds and then you walk away from your vehicle. And granted, the camera your camera faces forward so I can't see your face. Um, I can only have my own interpretations and I don't want my interpretations. I want to know what's going on with you in that moment. But it sounds like you were breathing very heavily. Um, almost panting or it sounds as though you were potentially having some sort of sobbing or anything like that. What was going through your mind at that moment? cuz you go from standing to crouching and that's when I start hearing breathing heavy and all these things. Like I said, it was a very overwhelming series of events that I couldn't believe just happened. Um, I didn't understand what was going on because like I said, I didn't say any words to the driver. I didn't make any contact with him. I made contact with his vehicle and as I approached him, he shot me. So, I was thankful that I was still alive at that point and I was thankful that I was going to go home, but I was so overwhelmed with emotions and just didn't know how to take the incident because I couldn't believe that that just happened. I couldn't believe I just went to go talk to someone and probably give them a warning and I got shot for it. Was your kid? Yeah. Uh just to clarify the lighting. How was the lighting uh during that time? Oh, it was daylight. Daylight. It was clear. It's a really pretty morning, actually. All right. And then uh I know you said uh you saw the the suspect's face. Um give you a smile. I didn't. When he came back, he g he was real smug. Yeah. He wasn't It was like he had no remorse for what he did. It his hands were shaking. His body was reacting to the incident and what had happened, but his facial expression was so smug. It was crazy. Like he had no remorse. Like usually when someone knows they've done something that crazy, you know, you could see it in their face. They're kind of like But he was ready to go on about his day. Did he say anything? Did you hear him say anything either to you? I seen him talk to a Lagona PD officer, but I don't know what was said. I didn't talk to those guys. They bandaged my hands and I waited for our guys to show up. And once our guys show up, they're the ones who came and checked on me and was like, "Hey, are you okay? Like, is there anything I can do? Is there someone I can contact for you?" You know, I didn't really talk to those guys. and I had them deal with him because I didn't want to say anything to him or cuz I knew at that point it was an investigation. Okay. When you did make contact with uh the guy in the truck hauling the fifth wheel, did he say anything to you besides what you already stated? Nothing else. And I didn't I didn't make any other contact with him and leave one of the sergeants made contact with him after I was transported. My my sole concerns was securing the scene and ensuring that all of our safety was okay because we I had just been through an incident that didn't make any sense and I didn't want anyone else to have to go through what I just went through. Uh do you know from what you saw was the suspect injured? Did you see I didn't see blood. I didn't see anything on him. He That's why when you asked about injury it was like I didn't see anything on him so I wouldn't know. I'm not the one who lights on with him. Okay. All right. Special occasion. Just a couple. Um, since the incident, his face has been Well, I take it you saw him walking back cuz he was smirking. His face has been Do you recognize him from any past dealings? No. If in the future, um, Sharon, I I will need to get your medical records. Can I do that with your consent? That's fine. Okay. We'll have to sign some. Okay. And what did the doctors tell you your injuries were? Um, so my poor right finger, um, there was a bilateral gunshot wound through and through and it shattered the bone. Um, they put a plate in it. My left hand suffered a bilateral gunshot wound to the lower index knuckle and it had a foreign body object which we all know as the bullet. Um, and then I received shrap metal into my left thumb. I couldn't tell you what the repairs were. I know I had a fracture in my left hand, but I couldn't tell you how bad the fracture was or what the repairs would have been because they wouldn't know anything until they actually My right eye had um a piece of glass from when he initially shot penetrate through 90% of my cornea. Um and so I've lost my not total vision, but everything is completely blurred. I can't read out of the eye or anything right now. What do they tell you the future looks like? They can't give me any certainty. They said they're hoping that the vision comes back, but they're not saying too much. Um, they said there's a small crater in my eye that's causing it to be shaped differently and that's what could be affecting my vision. Um, and my left eye received some superficial glass scratching the the top surface of my eye and they had to take that stuff out as well. Is that eye still red today? Yeah, it's still red, but it looks a lot better than what it did in the beginning. So, is there something in your right eye right now? My right eye? No. So, they finally took the contact out. Um, there was a contact protecting some glue cuz when they took it out, it left such a big hole that they didn't want to leave it like that that they put glue inside of it. Um, the glue came out earlier this week by itself, so they took the contact out, but I still can't see out of it. I'll ask you some questions when we stop recording just about your needs and your family's needs. Okay. Thank you, sir. The only thing I have while we're still recording is when you read your opening statement, did you read it accurately such that the written version of the statement is basically the same as what's on the recording? Yes. Officer, yes. A couple things for you real quick. Number one would be a medical. We'll touch on that just briefly as I pull up everything. If you're so comfortable, can I ask that you draw your depiction of the scene, the first scene from where the use of force occurred um to your recollection? Would that be something you are willing to do? Yep. [Music] There's several sheets there if you choose to restart or anything like that. [Music] [Music] Keep speech. [Music] So, this is Interstate 40 to 130 mile post. Okay. Westbound, eastbound. There's a Toah sign. I don't remember how to spell it. Okay. We pulled over just past it. Okay. I got out of the driver's side, came around the passenger. This is my avenue of approach. Okay. When I got up here, he fired through the window. This is where I film. This is where I return fire. And these are the stride. That is this drawing to scale. Yep. So can't This is the University of New Mexico Health Sciences request form. This is a us requesting that you release your medical record. Us requesting that you release your medical records. Um I filled out my fortune on be releasing them to you. I'm asking for a C CD DVD of a copy. Um, I'm also asking anything for radiology that may potentially show X-rays for the purposes of the investigation as evidence. If you can, if you do agree, fill out the top portion up here and check whichever these apply wherever you stop treatment or receive treatment at. Um, kind of the catch up to that is University Hospital um, or University Medical Group where they had the vote taken. And then if you would fill out the dates of which you are allowing us to receive the documents for the day before and then questions I'm just going to see if about getting a copy of her reported Mr. Perfect, sir. The formal interview of Officer Dan. The time right now is 1:54 p.m. Thursday, September 24, 2020.
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