Officer in ABC-7 arrest placed on desk duty; station will file complaint

Police said Tuesday that the officer involved in arresting an ABC-7 news crew at the scene of an accident yesterday has been placed on desk duty pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation.

Meanwhile, the photojournalist involved in the incident, Ric Dupont, who can be heard as the video ends saying, "you're hurting my arm" to the officer, apparently has filed his own complaint. The station also plans to file a complaint, said ABC-7 News Director Brenda De Anda. (See ABC-7 video below this article, and click here to see yesterday's NPT story.)

While emphasizing that police were not making a determination on the incident until the investigation is complete, police Spokesman Chris Mears said "that's not the type of conduct, based on the video, that we expect from our officers."

Mears said "I watched the video with Chief Allen and he's disturbed by what he saw in the video."

But, he added, "We have to investigate to find out all the facts. … We're not going to rush to judgment on what type of discipline is warranted until the case is over."

Darren Hunt, the ABC-7 reporter, said last night on the station's news broadcast that he was trying to interview soldiers who had actually pulled a man from the truck wreckage. The truck spilled across the westbound lanes of the freeway near Sunland Park, stopping traffic in that direction and slowing traffic in the other direction. Hunt was on the eastbound side of the highway.

The scene was partially caught on video. The first moments are not recorded in the video, which begins with the officer, identified as Sgt. Raul Ramirez, telling Hunt to leave the scene, a command he repeats about seven times during the incident. Hunt asks if he can to talk to one more person. "Negative," barks the officer, who turns to Dupont with a comment something along the lines of, "press that trigger, boy." Hunt says, "He can shoot if he wants to" and mutters "Geez" as he walks toward the truck. The officer sprints toward Hunt and pushes him against the truck. Things go downhill from there.

At the end of the two-minute clip, the officer appears to wrestle Dupont's camera to the ground. In a "Blair Witch" moment, the camera continues shooting while on its side, catching the sound of someone being pushed against the chain-link fence separating the two directions of the highway can be heard. The officer yells, "Sit down and shut up!" As the video ends, someone can be heard saying, "You're hurting my arm."

The part that's missing from the video might be key, said Bobby Holguin, a 20-year police veteran and president of the El Paso Municipal Police Officers Association.

He said that reporters were trying to interview witnesses to the accident. Holguin called that "harassing witnesses."

Holguin said bystanders visible in the video were not approached by the officer because "they're not interfering with the investigation. That's why the reporter is being singled out. He's harassing witnesses."

Holguin did not absolve Ramirez completely. Like the police administration, he said his comments were preliminary and that he would have much more to say after the investigation is complete.

Still, he said, "The officer is not 100 percent perfect on situation. There were probably better ways he could have handled it, but the officer will take whatever discipline he gets from it and we'll go from there.

"But it looks worse than it is.

"We (the police association) in no way are going to sit here and defend an officer who has done something wrong. We're here to make sure they get fair judgment."

Holguin said that ought to include assessing Hunt's role in the situation.

"He says 'I'm leaving, I'm leaving' several times, yet he never leaves. Darren Hunt deserves an Oscar for the acting he did that day. I'm not going to sit here and say it's all Darren Hunt's fault or the officer's fault. I'd like to see the whole investigation play out," Holguin said.

Mears said that Hunt, who NPT initially reported was detained, actually technically was arrested, but not charged. The initial charge was interference with the duties of a public servant.

He also said that Hunt, and for that matter, anyone else who was stopped on side of the eastbound freeway and was not a part of the scene investigation, could have been ticketed. "Pedestrians not allowed to be on the freeway, so there was technically a violation for them stopping and getting out on the freeway," Mears said.

De Anda said that the station has filed a complaint about the incident. She said that she reviewed the issue with staff during the Tuesday morning news meeting.

"I basically just reminded them in a situation like that police are clearly in charge of the scene. There's no question about that. We have to be tenacious … but aware of who is in control of the scene," she said. That said, she added: "I do think the officer's actions were unwarranted."

Video courtesy of ABC-7