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.