ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A former Albuquerque police officer who fatally shot a 19-year-old woman last year and was fired for insubordination and untruthfulness now faces a federal lawsuit accusing him of excessive force in another case.
Jeremy Dear did not identify himself as an officer when he tried to break up a fight in downtown Albuquerque two years ago, then choked and punched a man on the ground who did not realize police were involved, lawyers for Dennis Shoemaker said in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque.
“Dear kept his hand on Mr. Shoemaker’s throat and continued to choke him,” the lawsuit said. “Dear repeatedly used his free hand to strike Mr. Shoemaker in the face with his fist.”
The lawsuit comes as Albuquerque police and the U.S. Justice Department await a federal judge’s final approval to overhaul the police agency. A harsh federal report faulted the city’s officers for their use of force, and the department has faced scrutiny for more than 40 shootings since 2010.
Dear’s attorney, David Roman, did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press.
Shoemaker was arrested in 2013 on suspicion of battery on a peace officer, but the charges were later dropped. His attorneys say the arrest left him with a chipped tooth.
Prosecutors ended grand jury proceedings after Shoemaker’s lawyers presented witness testimony of the beating, according to the lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages and legal fees.
Dear was fired in November for lying to his police superiors.
The dismissal came after Dear shot and killed a suspected truck thief in April 2014, a shooting his lapel camera did not record, authorities said.
Dear opened fire after Mary Hawkes pulled a weapon on him, police said. An autopsy showed Hawkes died from three gunshot wounds to the head, neck and chest.
A toxicology report later showed Hawkes had a high concentration of methamphetamine in her system.
But the shooting stirred an outcry because of the lack of video from Dear’s lapel camera. Manufacturer Taser International inspected the camera to determine if Dear failed to turn it on or it malfunctioned. The results were inconclusive.
There also was no lapel video from Dear in the 2013 arrest, Shoemaker’s lawyers said.
An internal affairs investigation centered on Dear’s lapel-camera use for several cases and the type of gloves he wore, one of his lawyers said.
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