Rozanna M. Martinez and Scott Sandlin
Albuquerque Journal
The Albuquerque Police Department will review its pursuit policy after a suspected bank robber lost control of his vehicle and slammed into a car, killing two women, while trying to flee Tuesday.
The driver, Kimberly Aragon-Nunez, 34, died at the scene. Her passenger and coworker, Janice Flores, 28, died from her injuries. Both were mothers of young children who worked with the Women, Infants & Children program in Albuquerque.
An independent review will be conducted on the chase by a multi-jurisdictional team of law enforcement agencies, Police Chief Ray Schultz said during a news conference Wednesday.
Schultz said his department has a chase policy that follows national police protocol.
Although his department will review its chase policy, he said officers only chase violent felons.
The suspect, Jeremiah Jackson, 31, was thought to be armed during the bank robbery.
It took about 13 minutes for Jackson to rob a bank in northeast Albuquerque, flee police in a van at a high rate of speed on westbound Interstate 40, and crash on the other side of town, authorities said.
Before the crash, a police officer with her vehicle’s lights and sirens displayed followed Jackson’s van from Comanche to I-40, but the officer slowed down after losing sight of the van near Rio Grande.
She later located the van at Coors and Quail, where it had crashed, and ran after the suspect, who fled on foot. She did not notice that the van had crashed into a car and reported a noninjury, single-vehicle accident.
The officer returned to the scene, with a hurt wrist, a short-time later after Jackson was detained a few blocks away. The officer then noticed that a car had been struck by Jackson’s van. She again called in the accident, this time reporting it as serious, and reported the new details.
Schultz blamed the incident on Jackson, who faces federal murder and bank robbery charges.
“Jackson doesn’t have a rap sheet, he has a rap book,” Schultz said. “The criminal justice system failed in this case.”
Jackson has been convicted of at least three felonies and has violated his probation or the conditions of release at least seven times, authorities said. He has been arrested 11 times in Bernalillo County and released from the Metropolitan Detention Center on his own recognizance three times.
“Jackson should’ve been behind bars,” Public Safety Director Darren White said. "... He’s been given every break possible.”
Tuesday’s double fatal should be a “wake-up” call to any judge responsible for allowing Jackson to be on the streets, White said.
Jackson was sentenced to nine years in 2006 on various charges but wound up serving less than two years, after a judge suspended all but 30 months of his sentence and gave him 180 days pre-sentence credit.
White said Jackson should have gone back to prison for his full sentence after he violated his probation.
“It used to be if you violate probation or parole, you go back and serve your sentence,” Schultz said. “Why are they putting them on probation or parole if it doesn’t mean anything?”
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal