By Ashley Meeks
Las Cruces Sun-News
LAS CRUCES - The female officer strangled and tied up in a closet during an escape by two south county teens from a state-operated detention center may sue the state following her termination Thursday.
Elizabeth Estrada, 28, is alleging the state wrongfully terminated her, defamed her and negligently mismanaged the J. Paul Taylor Center, according to a tort claim notice served Friday afternoon.
Enrique Knell, spokesman for the Children, Youth and Families Department, which operates the center, confirmed that Estrada had been dismissed Thursday.
“I cannot comment further because this is a personnel matter,” Knell wrote.
Estrada’s attorney, Jeff Lahann, of Las Cruces, who prepared the tort claim notice, claims that the state “failed to make a priority of the safety of employees.”
“Ms. Estrada was forced to miss several weeks of duty while she recovered from the severe physical and emotional trauma she incurred on June 28, 2011,” he writes. “Incredibly, while Ms. Estrada was on leave to recuperate, and following assurances from a supervisor that she would be welcomed back at her job, the State of New Mexico gave notice that it intended to fire Ms. Estrada.”
A social work student with eight years of experience working with juveniles, Estrada had worked at the J. Paul Taylor Center for just short of two years when she was brutally attacked around midnight June 28.
Jesus Manuel Loera, 18, of Anthony, N.M., had been let out of a dorm, supposedly to get some clothes from the laundry room, when Estrada noticed he was fully dressed and tried to call Master Control for assistance, according to the tort claim notice. When Loera allegedly rushed her, Estrada tried to press her radio’s panic button, but because it had been issued two days prior without training, it didn’t work, the notice states.
As the two struggled, 16-year-old Joshua Hernandez, of Mesquite, allegedly managed to open his cell and attack Estrada with a cord, strangling her until she blacked out, the notice alleges. The two allegedly dragged her into a bathroom, tied her up, gagged her, took her keys, locked her inside and escaped, the notice claims.
About half an hour later, Estrada awoke to the sounds of a supervisor - who also found the unit phone not working - trying to get into the bathroom.
“I can’t even explain,” said the Las Cruces native and mother of two, when asked about the experience. “It was horrible. It was just horrible. I didn’t think I was going to live to see another day.”
Her voice emotional, Estrada continued: “It was something that I relive every day, every night. I can’t even sleep. I’m suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. I have bad anxiety now. I went from hating medication to having to take all kinds of it. That night was just - it was horrible.”
One of the worst parts, she said, was that “while everything was happening, I knew I was pretty much on my own, because of the way that place is run, the safety ... It’s something that needs to be dealt with already.”
Hernandez and Loera were arrested with the help of U.S. Marshals on July 1 after being found hiding in a bedroom closet in a mobile home on Ella Mae Road in Vado, according to State Police. Three females were also jailed on charges of aiding them: Hernandez’s girlfriend, Maricella Aguirre; Loera’s sister, Nancy Loera, 15; and Olga Palacio, 20, of Anthony, a family friend, according to state police.
A Do-a Ana County grand jury has since indicted Loera and Hernandez on charges of first-degree kidnapping, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, aggravated escape from CYFD custody and conspiracy. They are being charged as adults.
Estrada said she will be fighting to keep the two behind bars, even as she pursues her own court case.
“I’m not going to sit and let this happen to anyone else,” she said. “And it’s preventable. If they had more staff, more security, this never would have happened.”
Hernandez had been incarcerated at J. Paul Taylor for five probation violations - including an alcohol/drug violation and associating with people he was ordered not to - on a juvenile charge of residential burglary. His criminal record also shows charges of unlawful taking of a motor vehicle and possession of drug paraphernalia. Loera was incarcerated for burglary and criminal property damage. His criminal record also includes a conviction for a drive-by shooting and the armed robbery of a random bystander in 2009 in Anthony.
Their escape was the second this year, after 17-year-old Oscar Rios, who committed armed robbery in November, walked out the lobby doors and escaped while he was cleaning the center’s administrative offices in February.
Copyright 2011 Las Cruces Sun-News