The personnel file for Officer Dear says that in January 2013, his camera “malfunctioned” during the course of him “breaking up” a fight, in which Dear “did strike (the 22-year-old suspect) several times in his facial area with a closed fist.”
Officer Dear said the man was “resisting arrest.” He wanted his supervisors and the people of Albuquerque to believe that this was just a strange coincidence that his bodycam malfunctioned during the fight, even though it appeared to be in perfect working order upon inspection. His camera was never turned on during the encounter. Procedure is to turn on the camera when engaging in such a contact with citizens. He says he tried to turn it on but it just didn’t seem to work.
Only one month after this, Officer pulled a man over for speeding. That man filed a complaint, saying that he was kicked in the groin by the officer who dragged him from his vehicle. He also said that he deliberately put on handcuffs too tight, causing injury to him, even when the suspect protested and explained the pain he was in from the abusive use of the handcuffs.
But now Officer Dear has once again experienced technical difficulties during his shooting and killing of 19-year-old Mary Hawkes.
After a foot chase on April 21, 2014, Hawkes was said to have pointed a gun at Officer Dear. That sounds like he was in the right to use lethal force against her. But the problem is – once again – his bodycam mysteriously malfunctioned.
To complicate things, the autopsy report says that all three gunshots were fired on Hawkes from a downward trajectory, indicating that officer Dear was actually standing over the teenage girl when he killed her.
Watch the original report on the incident in the video below…
KOAT continues to ask questions about why lapel video from an Albuquerque police officer involved in a deadly shooting does not exist. Subscribe to KOAT on YouTube now for more: http://bit.ly/1jocB9r
Chief Eden has finally responded to this incident by saying that his department has a zero-tolerance policy for officers using camera during all interactions with citizens.
But Thomas Grover, the lawyer for officer dear, says “if they fire every officer who doesn’t turn on his uniform camera, they won’t have anyone left on the department.”
Grover, however, did not comment on the fact that this is hardly the first time his client has pulled this…
The Chief shrugged off the Dear’s claims of persecution, issuing a statement, that explains, “insubordination tears at the fabric of public safety especially when the officer makes a choice not to follow a lawful order… In imposing the discipline of termination, I considered the seriousness of the acts and omissions, aggravating circumstances and Officer Dear’s disciplinary record.”
Watch the local report below for more on the firing…
