A civil rights group is suing the city of Albuquerque, its police department and top officials on behalf of a man who was among those arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and allegedly forced to pay bribes to get the charges dropped. The DWI scandal has already moved beyond internal inquiry, to a federal investigation. One commander has been fired, several others have resigned and dozens of cases have been dismissed, the Associated Press reports. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed the lawsuit late Monday in state district court, alleging that Police Chief Harold Medina was aware of an agreement between some officers assigned to the DWI Unit and a local attorney’s office to work together to get cases dismissed in exchange for payment. The lawsuit contends that officers named in the complaint would refer drunken driving cases to a certain attorney and the officers would agree not to attend pre-trial interviews or testify so the charges would be dismissed. Federal authorities first informed the police department in June of 2022 of an alleged attempt by one of the officers to extort $10,000 from a defendant, according to the suit.
The ACLU filed the complaint on behalf of Carlos Sandoval-Smith, saying he was one of dozens of people who were “victimized” as part of the scheme for five years. “This lawsuit isn’t just about getting justice for me, it’s about stopping this abuse so no one else has to suffer the way I did,” Sandoval-Smith said in a statement Monday. “I lost my business, my home, and my dignity because of APD corruption. It even caused a deep rift in my family that we may never heal from.” Aside from the internal investigation launched in February by the police department, the FBI is conducting its own inquiry into allegations of illegal conduct. No charges have been filed, and it will be up to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to determine whether any federal laws were violated.
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