Police Chief Hailed As A Hero For Crashing Into A Car While Fleeing The Scene Of A Shooting

Failures

from the let's-make-sure-everyone-but-taxpayers-get-home-safely dept

I’ve been watching this story since late last week. A lot of what I saw then showed this was going to end in embarrassment and exoneration for Albuquerque (NM) police chief Harold Medina. But I still held out hope the city might find something to criticize about the chain of events that left city resident Todd Perchert with a totaled 1966 Ford Mustang and plenty of serious injuries.

That hope was misplaced. The city has chosen to side with the police chief, hailing him as a “hero” for literally running from the sound of gunfire.

Here’s what went down recently in Albuquerque:

On Saturday, February 17, Perchert was cruising down Route 66 in his family heirloom car—a gold 1966 Ford Mustang. His plan was to head from the Route 66 Diner to a Mustang Club meetup at the Atomic Museum, but he never made it.

“As I approached the intersection of Central and Alvarado, I clearly recall seeing the green light before going through the intersection. Then all of a sudden, I saw a black truck come out of nowhere and slammed into me on the driver’s side,” Perchert said.

In that black truck was Albuquerque Police Department Chief Harold Medina—it was an unmarked APD unit. He would later tell the media he and his wife were fleeing gunfire after pulling over near two men in a fight. “The grille was mostly what I saw as I sat eye-level, and I remember the sound quite well,” Perchert said.

No one can deny this happened. It was captured by CCTV cameras operated by businesses in the area. Those are the same recordings Chief Medina and the city of Albuquerque insist exonerate the chief for placing multiple people in danger because he feared for his own safety.

In the surveillance video, you can see what looks like two men starting to get into a fight on the sidewalk. Ten seconds later birds start to fly away, possibly reacting to a gunshot. Then the video shows Chief Medina fleeing the scene and crashing into the Mustang. “I looked to my left and the intersection was cleared, and I thought that the car was going to pass before I got there, and it did not, and unfortunately I struck a vehicle,” said Chief Medina.

You’re free to watch the recording at the link above. If you have eyes, you’ll notice the intersection was not “cleared,” something made plainly clear by a vehicle approaching from the left slamming on its brakes to avoid hitting or being hit by the truck driven by the police chief. (The chief’s truck is marked in red in this screenshot of KRQE’s reporting on the accident.)

That was Chief Medina’s excuse for running the red light: he feared for his safety. Someone pulled a gun and shot at someone else, prompting this high-level law enforcement official to flee to safety — something that involved him striking another car (which had the right of way) and subjecting Albuquerque resident Todd Perchert to a broken collarbone, shoulder blade, eight broken ribs, and a collapsed lung.

The police chief managed to offer up some concern for the victim of his red light running.

The chief has also apologized to the driver of the Mustang who was injured and taken to the hospital. “I hope he also realizes I will ensure that the city does the right thing in terms of this situation,” said Chief Medina.

Hey, thanks for that, Chief “Everyone’s safety is less important than mine” Medina, but it sounds like the city isn’t interested in helping Perchert recover from your cowardice.

The mayor spoke about that driver Thursday as well: “We are very concerned about the victim, and this is a situation where it is a very very unfortunate combination of events that happened and they happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time, and so we are worried about their condition, and we want to make sure there is a full recovery, and it was also a beautiful gold Mustang.”

“Wrong place at the wrong time?” They were driving through an intersection where they had the right of way. RIGHT. OF. WAY. How in the almighty fuck were they at the “wrong place at the wrong time?” HOLY SHIT.

And it’s not like it’s gotten any better over the last week. The city and the police chief continue to distance themselves from any responsibility for this senseless act of violence.

Even the Albuquerque PD’s attempt to exonerate the man at the top of the org chart raised more questions than it answered.

On Saturday, February 17, Chief Medina was headed to a news conference in his unmarked department issued vehicle with his wife. While in the left turn lane at a light at Central Ave. and Alvarado Dr. N.E., Chief Medina and his wife witnessed two individuals fighting. They then saw one of the individuals pull out a gun and shots were fired. Chief Medina and his wife were in the direct line of fire in which the Chief then took evasive action through the intersection to get his vehicle away from the gunfire.

Added to this mess are these facts, as summarized by Jacob Sullum for Reason:

According to Medina, the crash was caused not by his own carelessness but by the danger he was fleeing. He had taken a detour to have a look at “a homeless encampment on Alvarado north of Central,” planning to call an underling about it. “My wife stated, ‘Look, those two homeless individuals are about to get into a fight,'” he says. “My wife stated, ‘gun, gun.’ I looked up, and I could hear that a shot had been fired, and I saw an individual that was holding a firearm pointing it at another individual who was directly in line with my wife.” Medina decided “the best thing I could do was get my wife out of the way and regroup and see what the best response would be.” As Medina sees it, the gunman caused the crash.

Let’s run this all down: Chief Medina was driving a police vehicle, albeit one that was unmarked. He had his wife in his work vehicle. Despite being off-duty, he decided to take his wife on a brief tour of an area he felt needed more law enforcement: a “homeless encampment.” His wife was (apparently) the first to notice a gun. Rather than act like a cop in a cop vehicle (off-duty or not), Chief Medina chose to compound the danger of the situation by driving through a red light… because it was far more important he (and maybe his wife) escape injury than anyone else residing in the city.

Whether or not Chief Medina was technically “on the clock” isn’t open for discussion. He was headed to a press conference, which strongly suggests he was engaging in police business, even if he wasn’t actually engaged in actual law enforcement. The chief’s excuse for having his wife in the unmarked cop truck? No shit: “work/life balance.”

He defended policies allowing family members in take-home vehicles, “I fought hard and the mayor fought hard in 2018 to make sure we could have a life-work balance and that our families could be with us during these times.”

That makes zero sense. If you’re in a cop car (marked or not), you’re a cop. And Chief Medina was definitely a cop when this happened. He was headed to a press conference, something involving his official position. And he decided to take a detour to survey an area where he felt he might need to deploy more officers. So, he was a cop when he drove through the homeless encampment. And he was a cop when he decided to run a red light and seriously injure someone with the right of way — and someone whose safety he’s supposed to be ensuring.

An internal investigation was opened. And quickly closed. The investigators were a branch on the Albuquerque PD and the findings exonerated Chief Medina, claiming the collision was “non-preventable.”

Bullshit. And more bullshit. Albuquerque’s mayor, Tim Keller, made things worse by proclaiming the cop who broke traffic laws and seriously injured someone else in an attempt to save his own hide is (somehow) a hero.

The chief of police is arguably the most important person right now in these times, in our city, in our state. And so, what he did today, I think, also was something he does every day and our officers do every day, which is he is out on the front line. He is doing what he can to make our city safe. And this is actually him on a Saturday morning—disrupting an altercation, a shooting. Trying to do what’s right. Trying to make sure that folks are OK after on scene. This is above and beyond what you expect from a chief. And I’m grateful for Harold Medina.

Pardon my perfectly enunciated French, but fuck that noise. Chief Medina didn’t disrupt shit. He fled a crime scene and seriously injured an innocent driver. If the situation had been reversed — the driver of the Mustang fleeing a shooting and crashing into a cop (even an off-duty cop) — no city rep or PD investigatory board would be rushing to his defense and declaring his actions to be instrumental in “disrupting an altercation,” much less excusable under the (seemingly deadly) circumstances.

Instead, the driver would have already been booked on several charges, with jail time to begin immediately following his release from the hospital.

These are the actions of the man who heads the Albuquerque PD. Cops like him drape themselves in the garb of heroes every chance they get, whether it’s Punisher logos, “thin blue line” paraphernalia, or qualified immunity. They proclaim themselves to be the last line between organized society and chaos, fearless agents of public safety willing to “run to the sound of gunfire.” Even if we construe everything in the favor of the non-moving party (although it’s clear from the video Chief Medina was definitely moving!), the facts clearly demonstrate law enforcement officers and officials prioritize their own safety over the safety of the people they’re serving.

And with Chief Medina not only going out of his way to separate himself from any responsibility for this crash, but allowing others to hail him as a paragon of law enforcement, we can rest assured his police department will continue to be just as fucking terrible as it has always been: a welcoming home for some of the worst people ever allowed to call themselves cops.

Filed Under: albuquerque, albuquerque pd, harold medina, tim keller, todd perchert