Page 1 of 1

ALBUQUERQUE POLICE OFFICER JOKES ABOUT SHOOTING JAMES BOYD -

PostPosted: Tue Jun 23, 2015 6:32 pm
by admin
ALBUQUERQUE POLICE OFFICER JOKES ABOUT SHOOTING JAMES BOYD -- KILLS HIM TWO HOURS LATER
by Jen Hayden
September 30, 2014

NOTICE: THIS WORK MAY BE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT

YOU ARE REQUIRED TO READ THE COPYRIGHT NOTICE AT THIS LINK BEFORE YOU READ THE FOLLOWING WORK, THAT IS AVAILABLE SOLELY FOR PRIVATE STUDY, SCHOLARSHIP OR RESEARCH PURSUANT TO 17 U.S.C. SECTION 107 AND 108. IN THE EVENT THAT THE LIBRARY DETERMINES THAT UNLAWFUL COPYING OF THIS WORK HAS OCCURRED, THE LIBRARY HAS THE RIGHT TO BLOCK THE I.P. ADDRESS AT WHICH THE UNLAWFUL COPYING APPEARED TO HAVE OCCURRED. THANK YOU FOR RESPECTING THE RIGHTS OF COPYRIGHT OWNERS.


Image
Quote from Officer Keith Sandy, attribution: screenshot compilation from video

On March 16, Albuquerque police opened fire on homeless camper James Boyd in the New Mexico foothills. The entire scene was caught on video and sparked instant public outrage.

The death of James Boyd was one of many fatal shootings in New Mexico, something the Department of Justice determined was a pattern of unjustified excessive force by the Albuquerque Police Department.

Now a dashcam video has surfaced, which recorded audio of Albuquerque Police Officer Keith Sandy, one of the two officers involved in the fatal shooting of James Boyd, saying he would shoot Boyd in the penis:

Sandy: What do they have you guys doing here?

Ware: I don't know. The guy asked for state police.

Sandy: Who asked?

Ware: I don't know.

Sandy: For this f***ing lunatic? I'm going to shoot him in the penis with a shotgun here in a second.

Ware: You got uh less-lethal?

Sandy: I got…

Ware: The Taser shotgun?

Sandy: Yeah.

Ware: Oh, I thought you guys got rid of those?

Sandy: ROP's got one...here's what we're thinking, because I don't know what's going on, nobody has briefed me...


A mere two hours later, Officer Sandy did fatally shoot James Boyd.

The Albuquerque police are denying he said it, but jump below the fold to hear the audio for yourself and read on about how the Albuquerque Police continue to stonewall the investigation.

From KOB4, which has done some excellent reporting around the story:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/3 ... ail=emailx

Image
Now, KOBI Eyewitness News 4

Image
[Reporter Man] The fatal shooting of James Boyd by two APD officers opened a deep wound in our community, prompting calls for police reform. For the last six months our 4 Investigates Team has requested dozens of documents and belt tapes, lapel camera video -- anything -- to get a better sense of what exactly happened in the foothills when APD shot and killed Boyd.

Image
[Reporter Womaan] Law enforcement agencies have denied our requests making it impossible to put together an accurate sequence of events -- that is, until tonight. Investigator Chris Ramirez has a video that APD didn't know he had. You're going to hear it for yourself and you decide what it means.

Image
4 INVESTIGATES:

Image
[Chris Ramirez] ... the two officers who shot and killed homeless camper James Boyd, Dominique Perez and Keith Sandy. Well, this story is about Keith Sandy. Nobody in the public has heard what Sandy said two hours before he pulled that trigger firing those fatal shots. Well, you're about to hear Officer Sandy's own words:.

Image
[Reporter] Keith Sandy, fired from New Mexico State Police but hired by APD anyway, responded to the scene in the foothills last March. He sees an old colleague, State Police Officer Chris Ware.

Image
Sandy doesn't realize that Ware's dashcam is rolling ...

Image
picking up this conversation that will change how lawyers, judges ...

Image
and our community view this shooting.

Image
Sandy: What do they have you guys doing here?

Ware: I don't know. The guy asked for state police.

Sandy: Who asked?

Ware: I don't know.

Image
Sandy: For this f***ing lunatic? I'm going to shoot him in the penis with a shotgun here in a second.

Image
Ware: You got uh less-lethal?

Sandy: I got…

Ware: The Taser shotgun?

Sandy: Yeah.

Ware: Oh, I thought you guys got rid of those?

Image
Sandy: ROP's got one...here's what we're thinking, because I don't know what's going on, nobody has briefed me...

Image
[Chris Ramirez] Civil Rights Lawyer, Shannon Kennedy ...

Image
represents Boyd's family in a wrongful death lawsuit against APD.

Image
[Shannon Kennedy] So two hours before, he is saying, "I'm going to shoot this man in the penis," and then two hours later he is escalating the situation so he can do just that. It's chilling evidence of malice, and it is stunning that he has not yet been criminally indicated.

Image
[Reporter] He spells out even before he gets to James Boyd what his intentions are.

Image
[Shannon Kennedy] Absolutely. Almost exactly two hours before he shoots James Matthew Boyd in the back, he says to a State Police Officer that, "f**ing lunatic, I'm going to shoot him in the penis." It's crystal clear. And he says it with contempt in his voice.

Image
[Chris Ramirez] A month later, APD investigators asked Keith Sandy what he meant by that "shooting in the penis" comment. In an internal investigation transcript Sandy is quoted saying, "Jokingly, just kind of locker room banter, just told him, you know, 'don't worry, I'll shoot him in the pecker with this and call it good.'" But a few moments later the transcript shows how Sandy recanted his statement.

Image
The investigator asked, "Did you say anything to Chris Ware about shooting him in the pecker?" Sandy responded, "I don't, no, I don't think I did." But again, that audio tells a different story.

Sandy: For this f***ing lunatic? I'm going to shoot him in the penis with a shotgun here in a second.


Image
[Chris Ramirez] Sandy tells the investigator the guys in his unit make crude jokes all the time. In fact, the jokes can get so hostile the unit has a "safe word." CHINA. When an officer calls "CHINA," all jokes must stop.

Image
Sandy explains he was merely joking about shooting Boyd in the penis.

Image
[Chris Ramirez] To play devil's advocate with you, he does very elaborately talk about how this was a big joke. He never really meant to shoot James Boyd. That was never his intention. This was just a big joke. Do you buy it?

Image
[Shannon Kennedy] Of course it's not a joke because he went forward and actually shot him.

Image
Clearly, he has complete disregard for people suffering from mental disabilities. I mean, he calls him an "[expletiv]e lunatic," and in the next breath says "I'm going to shoot him in the penis," which is, "I'm not just going to shoot this guy, I'm going to shoot him and make him suffer.

Image
I'm going to emasculate him." And what is so mortifying about this shooting, which thank goodness we have a tape to show exactly what they did, was that instead of shooting him in the penis ...

Image
he actually shoots him in the lower back. So had James Boyd not turned at that moment to set down his bed, he would have been shot in the penis.

Image
[Chris Ramirez] Now, we checked with APD about Keith Sandy's current employment status. According to a spokeswoman, Sandy still carries a badge and he still carries his gun. He is on administrative leave which means that you the taxpayer are still paying for his salary while he sits at home. One more thing: our source is telling us that the FBI may soon release its findings on the investigation into the shooting.


The Albuquerque Police Department are sticking to their story:

The Albuquerque Police Department maintains that instead of saying "For this f**ing lunatic? I'm going to shoot him in the penis with a shotgun here in a second," Officer Keith Sandy said, "For this f**ing lunatic? I'm going to shoot him with a Taser shotgun in a second."

They've also refused to release the official report:

APD also released one single page from the ten-page New Mexico State Police report on the shooting, which details a follow-up interview with state police Sgt. Chris Ware, who said he "doesn't remember" what was said that day, but that he "believes" he said "Taser shotgun."

KOB says repeated requests for comments from Mayor Richard Berry have been ignored.

This isn't the first troubling incident for Officer Sandy. In 2007, he was fired by the New Mexico State Police:

Albuquerque Police Department brass took a chance in 2007, when they hired four ex-State Police officers who had freshly been relieved of duty from that agency because of a double-dipping scandal.

One officer had resigned from State Police. The other three had been fired. All four faced criminal charges at one point for receiving payments from a private security contractor while on the clock for State Police, although those never materialized.

And it gets worse:

“They do not carry guns, they are not going to be badged,” Castro said in July 2007 . “They’re civilian employees. They’ll be collecting evidence.”

In fact, they all got badges. And they all got guns. And some of them also got tremendous power and standing within the department.

Officer Sandy is currently on paid leave while the investigation continues.

ORIGINALLY POSTED TO SCOUT FINCH ON TUE SEP 30, 2014 AT 11:18 AM PDT.