By Scott Sandlin
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, NM — The city of Albuquerque has agreed to pay $275,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a man who was Tasered by city police at least six times.
The settlement came after an independent review officer determined that the two officers involved lied to a grand jury and a federal magistrate judge ordered that their Internal Affairs files be released after concluding that they had been “involved in numerous city complaints.”
The two APD officers reportedly told a grand jury that Andres Arellanes had grabbed or shoulder tackled a police horse, a claim that an independent review officer determined to be false.
The chain of events began with a verbal exchange between Arellanes and police at bar closing time on Sept. 8, 2007. Arellanes alleged that he was subject to unlawful seizure, excessive force and malicious prosecution by Albu- querque police and Department of Public Safety officers.
Felony charges in a grand jury indictment against Arellanes were eventually dismissed, but only after he had complained to an oversight body and an independent investigation was conducted.
Jason Clarke and Dayna Brock are no longer with APD. Both resigned in 2008.
The Journal was unable to reach officials at the city attorney’s office for comment Wednesday.
According to Arellanes’ version of events, he was walking down Central Avenue in Downtown about 1:30 a.m. to meet his brother for a ride home when he heard horse hoofs approaching from behind and a vehicle drove by blasting mariachi music. Arellanes said that he did a little cha-cha step to the music and that one of the mounted officers told him to stop and do it again.
Officers said he had grabbed a police horse by the shoulder.
Arellanes said he was immediately surrounded by foot and mounted officers. He claimed that Clarke demanded that he produce identification and grabbed his wallet, began interrogating him and calling him “faggot” and “queer” - terms the officers denied using.
He alleged that Brock grabbed his arm and that, when he reflexively jerked back, he was tackled and thrown to the sidewalk, hitting his head, and officers began hitting and kicking him.
Arellanes said he was thrown into a patrol vehicle, violently shaken, handcuffed and Tasered. Brock, the complaint says, used her Taser to administer several cycles of a “drive stun tase” to Arellanes’ back.
Officers denied wrongdoing and said Arellanes was combative, refused orders to leave as they were clearing the streets, tried to conceal his identity and kicked at them during the encounter.
“There were a lot of facts in dispute, but what wasn’t in dispute was he was Tazed repeatedly, 6-7 times ...” said Zach Ives, one of Arellanes’ attorneys in the civil case.
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal