JPD officers under federal indictment
By John Earp
This past January 17th, one former and two current Jal Police officers received a federal indictment of two counts each for allegedly depriving a John Doe (determined by other information not in the indictment to be one Hector Nava) of his constitutional rights. If proven guilty, all three men face up to ten years in prison. The original incident occurred on around midnight on July 30th and 31st of 2021, when the officers attempted to question and then arrest a man who had been observed by an officer to be driving around slowly in a parking lot with his headlights off, then turning onto Highway 128. The individual was eventually pulled over in the original parking lot he had been observed in, but refused to cooperate and resisted arrest, resulting in him being tazed more than a dozen times before finally being incapacitated and placed in the back of the patrol car. A few minutes after being placed in jail, he was found to have died. Efforts at reviving him by officers and EMTs once they arrived were unsuccessful. His cause of death was determined by the New Mexico Office of Medical Investigator to be toxic effects of methamphetamine. In November 2022, the Jal City Council approved a settlement with the victim’s estate for $4 million, with an additional $1 million paid by the city’s insurance carrier, in order to avoid years of potential litigation in court.
It is not clear from the federal indictment precisely how the officers are alleged to have denied Nava his constitutional rights. The indictment states that the three officers, “while acting under color of law, and while aiding and abetting one another, willfully deprived John Doe of the right, protected and secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free from unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from unlawful arrest by a law enforcement officer. The offense resulted in bodily injury to John Doe and included the use of a dangerous weapon,” and “willfully deprived John Doe of the right, protected and secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to be free from unreasonable seizure, which includes the right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a law enforcement officer. The offense resulted in bodily injury to John Doe and included the use of a dangerous weapon.”
When asked this past Tuesday if he had any comment on the case or of the impact of the arrests of roughly one-fourth of JPD’s officers, Police Chief Mauricio Valeriano said he was not permitted to comment on the case. Efforts to contact Mayor Stephen Aldridge and City Manager Wesley Hooper this past Tuesday were not successful. When asked about the impact of the arrest of roughly one-fourth of the Jal Police Department on the overall security of the community of Jal, Valeriano said the department would still be able to do its job, with officers working extra hours as needed.
