Dash-cam video released Thursday shows a State Police officer running toward and alongside the car driven by Jeanette Anaya and firing multiple times into the Honda sedan as he screams expletives and for the occupants to get their hands up.
Anaya's car did back into officer Oliver Wilson's cruiser, apparently narrowly missing Wilson himself, but the video shows that the Honda was moving away from Wilson as most of his 16 shots were fired. Some of his shots seem to be aimed at the lower portion of the car or a tire.
Anaya, 39, was hit and killed by two of Wilson's shots, following a vehicle chase that started when Wilson tried to pull her over for a traffic stop after midnight on Nov. 7.
When the shooting took place, Wilson was outside his patrol car. He had used a bumping maneuver to force her car to stop on Camino Carlos Rey. All within just a few seconds, Wilson gets out of his car, Anaya backs into the cruiser, and Wilson starts shooting at Anaya's Honda. A passenger in Anaya's car, Jeremy Munoz, 34, was not injured.
Earlier this week, a Santa Fe County grand jury ruled that Wilson was justified in firing at Anaya and that he will face no criminal charges. Wilson testified he feared for his life when Anaya backed into his police car, according to District Attorney Angela "Spence" Pacheco.
But Tom Clark, attorney for Ana-ya's parents, said Thursday that Anaya should have stopped during the car chase but that if Wilson wasn't wearing a police uniform, he'd be facing a first-degree murder charge now.
Clark said he was "shocked and dismayed" after viewing the video.
"I had no idea it was going to be as bad as it was," he said. "I didn't think it would be so dramatic with the officer running alongside shooting point-blank into the car."
In a tort claim notice of potential litigation Clark has filed, he says Anaya "was pursued, forced off the road, shot and killed by officer Wilson ... without probable cause or justification and in violation of Ms. Anaya's constitutional rights."
Police reports also released Thursday under Inspection of Public Records requests indicate that Anaya was handcuffed, despite her gunshot wounds to the head and back, as first Wilson and then others performed CPR and chest compressions on her, until an EMT asked that the cuffs be removed.
"The people should be outraged by the way my client died," Clark told KOAT.
A State Police spokesman said there would be no comment from the agency, including on whether Wilson has been disciplined in any way over the shooting, because of the potential for litigation in the case.
Chase, shooting on video
The dash-cam video shows no obvious traffic violation or erratic driving by Anaya before Williams tries to pull her over by flashing his cruiser lights. She speeds off on a chase that reaches speeds of up to 87 mph on city streets -- speeds are stamped on the video -- and she eventually winds through a residential area and over speed humps.
At the conclusion of the pursuit on Camino Carlos Rey, the video shows that Wilson used a low-speed, contact maneuver on Ana-ya's 2002 silver Honda Accord, with debris flying off at least one car, to force her to stop.
In an instant, there's a crash off camera -- apparently the sound of the Honda backing into the patrol car -- that produces more debris. Shots are fired, and the Honda reappears in the frame, moving left to right with Wilson firing as he runs toward, then alongside, the sedan. The car and officer then leave the video frame.
The State Police reports released Thursday include Wilson's statement to investigators.
He said that after the maneuver he used to stop the Honda, he positioned his patrol car behind and "perpendicular" to the Honda. As he approached on foot, "he found himself inadvertently between his unit" and the Honda. He saw the sedan moving toward him in reverse and drew his pistol, "firing four shots simultaneously towards the driver."
Before firing "he feared being crushed by both vehicles causing great bodily harm or even (his) death."
The backing up of the Honda -- which Pacheco said on Wednesday was confirmed by accident reconstructionists -- takes place off-camera.
Wilson said Anaya's car then started forward as if she were trying to flee. Unsure if his "first four shots had been effective," he closed in on foot firing at a tire to disable the car.
Wilson used expletives in ordering the occupants out of the car, the video shows. In his statement to investigators, he says "the driver stayed inside the vehicle motionless as the front passenger listened to his verbal commands."
Anaya told Munoz, the passenger, during the chase that she wouldn't stop, because she was afraid of being arrested over an outstanding warrant, the reports state. The warrant is from August 7 for failure to appear in Santa Fe Municipal Court on a concealing identify charge that carried a $500 bond.
An investigation has been underway to determine if Wilson properly notified police dispatch of the reason for the pursuit, police have said previously. Santa Fe officers refused to join in the chase, because they couldn't get a reason, dispatch recordings show.
On the video, Wilson can be heard asking by radio for permission to use a "PIT" or bumping maneuver to stop the Honda. No response granting permission is discernible amid the noise of the chase.
CPR while handcuffed
State Police interviews with Wilson, in the presence of his attorney, and with Munoz indicate that Wilson tried CPR on Anaya immediately after the shooting, before Santa Fe police officers took over performing chest compressions. An EMT arrived and continued CPR after asking that handcuffs be removed from Anaya, the reports state.
Clark, the Anaya family attorney, said handcuffing Anaya after she was shot and dying was "one of the most shocking things about this ... it defies reason."
An analysis released earlier this week by the state Office of the Medical Investigator found that Anaya had 0.08 milligrams per liter of cocaine in her system. The police reports released Thursday don't provide any information on when or where she might have used cocaine.
Munoz was handcuffed after the shooting, but was eventually taken to the hospital for a checkup. He was never charged.
Wilson, a one and one-half year veteran of the agency, was interviewed by State Police on Nov. 14. He had been on the "graveyard" shift only two weeks at the time of the shooting, the police reports say.
Car 'wobbles'?
He told investigators he saw Ana-ya's car make a right turn from Alta Vista Road onto St. Francis Drive after approaching "the intersection rapidly, and the vehicle made a sudden 'California stop' ( a stop and go)." Since the light from his direction was red, he presumed Anaya did have a green light to make the turn.
The dash-cam video shows Ana-ya's car slowing to a near-stop before making the right turn. Wilson said most motorists "proceed in one continuous motion." He said he also "noticed the vehicle had a wobble to it." No wobble can be discerned in the video, although the recording has difficult-to-decipher "hot" sections from the glare of bright street lights.
Wilson said he believed the car had a mechanical issue or that the driver was impaired due to the stop and go action when he first saw it making the right turn.
When Munoz was interviewed, he told police he had been doing his friend Anaya a favor when he got caught up in the shooting, which forced him to the floorboard to avoid the shots coming from the passenger side of the car, the reports indicate.
Munoz said Anaya knocked on his door at about 12:30 a.m. the night of the shooting, asking for help with a low tire. They drove to the Allsup's at Baca and Cerrillos to inflate the tire and went to a Taco Bell for food.
As they approached the intersection at Alta Vista and St. Francis, Anaya applied the brakes because the light was red and accelerated when it turned green and turned right onto St. Francis.
Munoz "had no idea" an officer was behind them until the patrol car's emergency lights were activated. He said he told Anaya to stop several times during the ensuing chase but she refused and told him about her outstanding warrant.
As the chase ended on Camino Carlos Rey, Wilson started yelling commands with his gun drawn and Anaya backed up, missing Wilson but striking his vehicle, said Munoz.
Anaya put the car in drive, and Munoz heard the shots start. "He placed his hands out the window yelling to the officer that she was dead," a police report states. Online
Copyright 2014 - Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
