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Monday afternoon SCPD Chief Reynolds held a press conference to announce the results of an internal investigation into the now infamous encounter with the 6th Judicial District DA Francesca Estevez on June 11, 2016.

"I take full responsibility for the conduct of the officers" and "I apologize to the community for not handling this properly" referring to the lack of a "standard field sobriety test". "At the outset our officers did not handle this call properly" and "Failed to do the standard sobriety test" even before being allowed to drive away.

Chief Reynolds stated the officers failed to initiate a proper investigation before state police showed up even though there was enough cause to do so and when state decided not to take action the officers should have insured that Francesca Estevez was capable of driving safely before she drove off. "That didn't happen" and "The driver shouldn't have been allow to leave the scene without us insuring there was no impairment"

The Chief also apologized to Ricky Ritter who videoed the erratic driving and called 911 stating that Ricky "did the right thing" and the SCPD failed to follow through and do our part.

Reynolds also stated that body cams should always stay on including when officers to talking with him and that the officers have received additional training on the subject including battery maintenance, time/date reset and clearing any previous video and storing it on an ever increasing hard drive capacity before each shift. The Chief also pledged to randomly monitor body cam footage for officer conduct and proper procedures and that if anybody has a complaint that footage can be retrieved and reviewed.

Officer Discipline: Though no cops on-scene were suspended nor fired at least some had been disciplined or reprimanded for their conduct which then becomes a confidential personnel matter.


My thoughts: The Chief looked us in the eye and gave, in my opinion, a sincere unflinching Mia Culpa for the shortcoming of his department in this matter and for this I'm grateful but as usual the proof is in the pudding as we move forward. In a conversation later in the day between myself, Chief Reynolds and Captain of Investigations Ricky Villalobos we talked about guarding against over reacting to a too loose situation and becoming overly aggressive during police/public encounters. Did I say that well?

Compare this with DA Estevez who wouldn't look us in the eye nor talk to us in her interview with KRQE which further undermined confidence in the DA Office. I again offer my Door 3 found in my previous article viewtopic.php?f=106&t=15719.

Chief Ed Reynolds has followed in the same footsteps as NM State Police Chief Peter Kessetas in his apology of his officer's conduct & to the citizens of Grant County, which leads me to question Francesca Estevez's innocence, as I have thought all along. My question for Chief Ed Reynolds is, why was she not (at the very least) arrested for reckless driving, when Rick Ritter's video obviously shows such? This kind of outcome is a slap in the face to law-abiding citizens who not only strive to do the right thing behind the wheel, but for those who go the extra mile to report certain situations with the hope that the law will right the wrong, and make the unsafe safe again! The message is loud & clear -- political favoritism does not get my vote!!

From what I've read re the press conference, Chief Reynolds said that they had contacted Rick Ritter to see if he'd be willing to testify in support of a reckless driving charge, but he hasn't responded. The video, by itself, evidently isn't enough to proceed.

This is true that Ritter did not return calls and he didn't return my calls either but after the chief apologized to him for his officers not following through on scene even though they had seen the video he, the chief, stated that he didn't blame Ritter nor hold it against him because he had already done his part and the officers on-scene, including the State cop had not followed through with their part. Ritter, it seems, chose not to become embroiled in a protracted fight with the DA over a misdemeanor reckless driving charge.