Las Cruces police beating victim punished with probation, community service

The man who took a beating from police officers while in a holding cell has been sentenced to 364 days supervised probation, along with 80 hours community service for his role in the events leading up to his arrest.

ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom has learned Ross Flynn will not be allowed to use firearms during his probationary period and he will have to undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation.

Ross Flynn was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, assault on a peace officer, and resisting and evading arrest.

Last month, a jury found Flynn not guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and not guilty of assault on a peace officer. He was found guilty of resisting arrest.

The charges stem from a confrontation Flynn had with a woman at an apartment complex in 2014. In a 911 call, a neighbor says Flynn knocked on her door while holding a gun and acting aggressive.

Flynn took the stand in his own defense. He said he took a woman out to dinner that night. Afterwards, she invited him to her apartment complex. When they arrived, she asked if he would confront a neighbor for her. Flynn said he wanted to be chivalrous, so he knocked on the door. He said when the neighbor answered, he was not aggressive, and he held the gun behind his back. Flynn said he was carrying it with him because he didn’t want someone to steal it from his truck. But when he walked away, that’s when the neighbor noticed the gun.

“I was not argumentative, I was not aggressive, did not raise my voice,” Flynn said. “As I was getting (ready to leave) she said as I recall, oh my God you brought a gun to my door. My response was, it’s an open carry state, lady.”

The neighbor then called 911. When police arrived, a Las Cruces Police sergeant who testified said Flynn refused to comply with demands. He was eventually tazed and taken into custody. But Flynn said the sergeant never identified himself. He said the woman he was with shined a flashlight in the sergeant’s eyes and when authorities gave commands he didn’t know who they were directed to.

“I assumed they were commands to me but as I said they were given in quick succession,” Flynn said .”I don’t know which one of us they’re talking to. The whole time I had my hands raised empty and open. I’m showing the police that I’m not a threat, that I don’t have anything in my hands and I’m not sure what commands I’m supposed to be following.”

This trial is separate from the jail cell beating Flynn was involved in once taken into custody. You’ll remember, video shows Flynn being thrown around the cell and struck by the officers, with his hands chained around his waist after he was arrested. Flynn admits to ‘mouthing off’ when he was in custody, but says he doesn’t fully remember everything that happened to him and that he still has momentary gaps in his memory every day.

The police department fired officers Richard Garcia and Danny Salcido.

A grand jury indicted the officers and they will stand trial on a charge of aggravated battery.