By Hailey Heinz
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — At 70 years old, Margaret King is not very threatening. But when a Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputy pulled her over for speeding, he thought she was dangerous enough to draw his gun and call for backup.
“I’m still shaken every time I think about it,” King said.
King was on her way to the post office earlier this month when a deputy pulled her over for speeding on Edith near Candelaria NE.
The Albuquerque resident said it took her awhile to find a place to pull over. When she did, at a side street, she opened the door of her truck.
“I started to open the door, turned around and he had the gun pointed right at me,” she said.
A report by Deputy Richard Castillo confirms that he drew his gun after King did not pull over promptly and started to open the driver’s side door. According to the report, Castillo had his gun drawn throughout a brief conversation with King. She asked him why he stopped her, and he ordered King to close her door.
Castillo put his gun away before he approached King’s car, according to the report.
Undersheriff Sal Baragiola said failing to stop and opening a car door can signal danger for deputies.
“Traffic stops are one of the highest risk activities that a police officer performs,” Baragiola said. “There are a variety of unusual behaviors on the part of a motorist that could be interpreted as a threat to law enforcement personnel when initiating a stop. If the deputy perceives a risk, he or she may unholster their weapon until they can assess the situation to determine whether or not there is a threat to their personal safety.”
Ruben Gallegos, who lives at the intersection where King was pulled over, said he could hear Castillo shouting at her from inside his house and came out to see what was going on. He said he saw Castillo’s gun drawn, and King seemed to be confused and scared.
“It seemed like she’d never been pulled over before,” he said.
Gallegos went outside to watch the confrontation from his yard. He said Castillo ordered him back inside, but he stayed to be a witness for King.
“I kept thinking, ‘What if it was my mom he was treating like that?’ ” he said.
Castillo called for backup after exchanging words with Gallegos and proceeded to write King a speeding ticket.
Castillo’s report describes both King and Gallegos as “disorderly” and said that King got out of her car and had to be told several times to get back inside. The report also describes her tone as “rude.”
King said she doesn’t think she was speeding, but, even if she was, Castillo shouldn’t have treated her that way.
“I have never seen anyone in authority with that kind of demeanor,” she said, adding that Castillo called her stupid and demanded to know whether she had seen the lights. King said she was close to hysteria and afraid for her life.
“I thought I was a dead duck,” she said. “I’m not afraid of death, but to have it come that way, not knowing what in the hell I did.”
Copyright 2009 Albuquerque Journal