Dona Ana County: Video prompts excessive-force investigation
ABC-7 is learning more about an internal investigation over alleged excessive use of force at the Dona Ana County Detention Center.
On Monday, the county put out a news release saying the jail initiated the investigation of a five year veteran officer on Friday after video showed force against a man being booked.
A county spokesman said they put out the news release, not because they are making up for past mistakes, but because they want to continue being as transparent as possible.
“Certainly Mr. Barela’s come under some fire from people who say that he covers up things and that’s just not the case,” Williams said. “So the decision was made that this happened we were launching an investigation. We wanted to just tell people it happened and we’re launching an investigation.”
County Spokesman Jess Williams told ABC-7 the county wanted to be the first to break the news about the investigation to avoid coming off as secretive. Williams says the county’s internal investigator is now collecting a lot of facts from multiple agencies involved, including the hospital the man was sent to and the las cruces police department who initially brought the man into the facility.
Chairman Billy Garrett says he was pleased to see the county following through.
“The county needs to be as transparent and accountable as we can be on all of our operations and I know there’s been concern about the detention center for a variety of reasons,” Garrett said. “I think this is a step in the right direction as far as dealing with public concern.”
ABC-7 couldn’t speak with Jail Administrator Chris Barela on Tuesday, but he said they check video footage for excessive force on a regular basis. But when this specific one came to his attention, he felt it was sufficient enough to prompt an investigation. So far, no word on how long it will take.
