ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A group of motorcyclists who disrupted traffic by performing stunts on an Albuquerque roadway led a Bernalillo County sheriff’s lieutenant to propose the idea of ramming motorcycles with police vehicles in similar incidents in the future.
Officers circulated emails after the Oct. 7 incident in which deputies reported that motorcyclists aggressively surrounded them, blocked them in and made threatening hand gestures. They say a deputy concerned about a motorcycle hitting a police car had pointed a gun at a rider who got close on Tramway Boulevard.
The Albuquerque Journal reports that Lt. AJ Rodriguez told a superior in an email that the deputies “were in a borderline deadly-force situation” and if similar incidents happen again, he would approve “hitting the bikes, to create safe space . if the deputies are being actively blocked in by motorcycles.”
Deputy Felicia Maggard, spokeswoman for the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, said department policies have not changed and they do not address running over motorcyclists. The incident is being investigated internally.
“No changes to our policy have been made,” Maggard said. “But upon completion of this (internal affairs investigation), if the sheriff decides to make some policy changes, this could be an outcome.”
The motorcyclists did wheelies, blocked intersections to allow the group to stay together, weaved between cars, and even slowed down in all lanes of traffic to give riders ahead safe space to do tricks.
In a 24-second video clip taken by one of the riders that spread online, no motorcycles are clearly visible on either side of a police vehicle, though it is possible one is to the left as the cruiser pulls from behind a motorcyclist in a pink shirt, straddles the lanes and drives up beside the rider in pink.
The video shows a deputy point a weapon at the motorcyclist, who comes out of a wheelie and appears to speed ahead before the footage ends.
The sheriff’s office does not require its deputies to use body cameras to record contacts with the public, and only three cruisers are outfitted with dash cams.
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Information from: Albuquerque Journal, http://www.abqjournal.com
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