Hobbs Police Sued - Filing Says 15 Year Old Black Girl's Rights Violated

Originally published in the Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico) September 13, 2002 

Copyright 2002 Albuquerque Journal 

By Rene Romo Journal Southern Bureau


LAS CRUCES Hobbs police officers arrested a 15-year-old girl in June 2001 for advising her 12-year-old brother he had the right not to answer police questions about an egg-throwing incident, according to a civil lawsuit filed recently in federal court.

The lawsuit alleges that officers took the handcuffed girl to a police car, and as the crying boy approached to retrieve the family dog, police pepper-sprayed both the boy and his dog.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the minor children and their mother Gloria Mora, claims the two officers' actions amounted to a false arrest and imprisonment, battery and a violation of constitutional rights.

The suit seeks compensatory and punitive damages against the two officers, Darrik Lasater and Brian Dunlap; then-police chief Tony Knott; and the city of Hobbs.

Hobbs' acting police chief Donnie Smith declined to comment on the lawsuit, except to say that police dispute some of the claims. Smith said a formal response was being formulated.

The Hobbs Police Department conducted an internal investigation of the incident after the children's mother filed a formal complaint about police conduct.

The department's internal investigator concluded the complaint was "unfounded" and "without basis in fact," Smith said.

The lawsuit was filed last month by Santa Fe attorneys Richard Rosenstock and Daniel Yohalem, who argued a 1999 class-action suit against the city of Hobbs that alleged its police department engaged in racially discriminatory practices against black residents.

The May 2001 settlement of that suit required Hobbs police to receive at least 40 hours of training each year on appropriate arrest procedures and required the police department to maintain records on the racial makeup of all civilians contacted by individual officers during field contacts and arrests.

The new lawsuit is not related to the earlier class-action suit, Yohalem said.

According to the lawsuit, the Mora brother and sister were watching television at home about 9:30 p.m. on June 6, 2001, when the police officers arrived to ask them whether they had thrown eggs at a car earlier that evening. The children's mother was at work at the time.

The suit claims police questioning became aggressive, with Dunlap calling the boy a liar and demanding that the children tell him who had thrown the eggs. After the girl repeatedly told her brother he did not have to answer police questions, despite police warnings that she not do so, she was arrested, according to the suit.

The department's internal investigator found that "Jolene obstructed the investigation," according to the suit.