When Albuquerque officers cornered , Pete” Jacob” Martinez , after a long finger fight, he put a gun to his church. However, soldiers talked to the 36-year-old until he lowered it.
” I’m not going to take at you men. Probably I should shoot myself”, Martinez told them in the neck camera game. An officer replied,” We do n’t want that either, man”.
Martinez asked to smoke a cigarette, the weapon at his side, when an agent shot him with a less- destructive foam square. Within a minute, agent  , Angelo Lovato , fired a fatal shot.
After a fortnight- much investigation, it became one of the second fatal police killings in recent years to be found out of coverage by the , Albuquerque Police Department.
APD spokesman , Gilbert Gallegos , said no decision has been made on skill for Lovato as he is now on military leave. He claimed Lovato is also employed by APD.
On Tuesday, Martinez’s family filed a complaint against the town of , Albuquerque , in the November event, alleging Martinez’s legal rights were violated through extreme pressure and incompetence.
” This determination to build quasi- lethal force might have been life- saving if Officer , Angelo Lovato , had never needlessly shot and killed , Mr. Martinez , with a bullet at the same time”, attorney , Mark Fine, who is representing the family, said in a statement. The almost continuous use of non-lethal and non-lethal force against Mr. Martinez serve as yet another dreadful example of how a long-standing culture of non-responsibility at the top of the APD undermines the City’s admirable efforts to stop its police from using extreme deadly force against people in crisis.
Martinez had been diagnosed with paranoid personality disorder, according to the complaint in , 2nd Judicial District Court.
The lawsuit asks for” a fair prize of compensatory and punitive damages, including curiosity and attorney fees, and for additional comfort as the Court deems only.”
Also, the family requests that the area set up, finance, and manage an company or program to communicate with the families of those killed in police shootings” to prevent unnecessarily aggravating their grief and trauma,” according to the lawsuit.
In Martinez’s case, the lawsuit states that the city “failed to make good faith efforts to notify” Martinez’s wife of his death.
In a statement released by Fine, Martinez’s widow, Florence, said he had been abused as a child and battled addiction as an adult, all while suffering from “multiple physical and mental illnesses”.
She stated in the statement that although he had a desire to lead a sober life and be an active and present father to his children, he was unable to do so before passing away. Jacob was a devoted and considerate friend who had a prodigious sense of humor.
On , Nov. 25, the , Albuquerque Police Department , had operation Sticky Fingers, targeting retail crime, underway at , Cottonwood Mall. Around , 3: 30 p. m., police tried to arrest Martinez after he was seen shoplifting, and he took off.
The foot chase included a trip through an ice cream shop and several parking lots. Martinez was cornered outside an office building at one point after pulling out a handgun.
Within minutes, he was dead.
APD officials have said that Lovato later told police he fired when the gun “lifted” in Martinez’s hand, fearing he was going to shoot another officer.
Although the less-lethal round struck him in the chest when the video showed him’s arms flared out, the gun in his hand never pointed any way at any of the officers before Lovato fired.
The lawsuit states the city knew Lovato “had a history of using deadly and/or excessive force” and “lacked professional integrity”, pointing to Lovato’s name being on the District Attorney’s disclosure list of untrustworthy officers for testimony.
The District Attorney’s Office , did n’t immediately say why Lovato was on the list, which is known as a Brady- Giglio disclosure list.
According to reports in the media, Lovato has fatally shot two people and been sued at least twice as an APD officer.
In 2004, Lovato killed a DWI suspect who grabbed his gun after a foot chase, and in 2007 Lovato fatally shot a man who was wielding a screwdriver.
In the second incident, Lovato was sued for using excessive force and exonerated by a jury.
In 2008, a jury found Lovato and other APD officers used excessive force on, and wrongfully arrested, an off- duty , State Police , officer after a dispute outside a bar years earlier. The jury awarded$ 35, 000 in damages to the former State Police officer.
___
( c ) 2024 the Albuquerque Journal
Distributed by , Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
