TODAY'S TOP STORIES: SWAT team barrage contributed to death
A man killed during a SWAT standoff with Albuquerque police in March died from a barrage of what police claim were normally nonlethal tactics, according to an autopsy obtained by the Albuquerque Journal.
Police responding to a report of a delusional man barricaded inside an Albuquerque motel say the man showed an “almost superhuman” resistance to their efforts, which included spraying him with tear gas and pepper spray, shooting at him with wooden batons and bean bags and then spraying him with high-pressure water so powerful it took down a wall in the motel, the Journal reports. “And when he was lying nonresponsive on the floor, he was bitten by a dog and shocked with a Taser, according to the autopsy.”
The paper says the overnight standoff lasted 10 hours and the victim died from a combination of "excited delirium" and "prolonged chemical and physical restraint," according to the autopsy. Chronic lung problems and obesity were likely contributing factors, it states.
"As far as we're concerned, he was tortured to death," the victim’s sister in Yakima, Wash., told the Journal, which added that APD spokesman John Walsh pointed to the sheer length of the standoff as proof that officers were patient and careful.
The president and co-owner of Western Water and Power Production LLC, remains "optimistic" that his plans to build a biomass electricity generating plant near Estancia will succeed, despite termination of his company’s contract with Public Service Company of New Mexico in June, the Mountain View Telegraph reports.
"With every day going by, the project gets more and more desirable because of the change in attitude around the country towards renewables," David Cohen told the Telegraph. Also according to Cohen, Western has been "shortlisted” on a major out-of-state utility's request for proposals.
PNM terminated the company’s contract because it was not convinced Western could finance the project, for which Cohen has said up to $40 million in quity is needed to begin construction according to the Telegraph. "Our goal is to commence (breaking ground) as soon as possible," Cohen told the paper.
The acting Surgeon General of the United States was in Shiprock this week, saying he came to show support for the emphasis Navajo country is putting on controlling childhood obesity by encouraging children to be active and eat right, the Gallup Independent reports.
Acting Surgeon General Steven K. Galson, who also visited Albuquerque this week, told the Gallup paper:
“I wanted to make sure I had an opportunity to see and to congratulate the folks out here on Navajo.”
Galson was on hand to help the Tse’ Bit’ Ai Middle School open its new wellness center for students and to award the Just Move It program for its effort to combat obesity in the community. Galson told the Gallup Indpendent he has four major goals as acting surgeon general — a position he has held nearly a year: prevention, preparedness, health disparities and health literacy. “But I’m spending probably the most amount of time on childhood obesity and underage drinking,” he said.
The Taos News has a new editor in chief. Joan Livingston has been appointed editor in chief of The Taos News, replacing editor Gerald Garner Jr.
Taos News publisher Chris Baker said the paper had more than 250 applicants from as far away as Japan, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada and all over the U.S. “Robin Martin and I are excited about hiring from within,” the paper quoted him as saying. Martin is owner of The Taos News, Santa Fe New Mexican and Sangre de Cristo Chronicle.
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