NEWS > 12 December 2006

Article sourced from

Carlsbad Current Argus - Carls
12 December 2006

This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.

Former cop files suit against

CARLSBAD A former Loving police officer who was fired in 2004 with little explanation is suing the Village of Loving, claiming her termination was an act of retaliation for her honesty.
Rachael A. Lassiter filed a civil lawsuit in District Court in November seeking an injunction against the Village of Loving, the Loving Village Council, former mayor Miranda Darcy, former councilor Richard A. Campos, current mayor Pedro H. Estrada who was a former councilman, councilor Arturo L. Munoz Sr. and councilor James H. Rodriguez.

The suit also seeks an unspecificied amount of money for loss of wages, loss of pension, retirement, medical and other benefits, earning capacity, loss of reputation and ability to obtain work, mental anguish, emotional distress, pain and suffering, attorney's fees and costs incurred.

Lassiter alleges in the lawsuit that the defendants violated her constitutional rights, including the right to free speech, when she was fired after refusing to "cover up" a drinking and driving crash involving Arturo Munoz Jr., 20, the son of village councilor Arturo L. Munoz Sr. The single vehicle rollover crash occurred on Sept. 25, 2004, on Bounds Road near Loving.

Lassiter, at the instruction of then police chief Harvey Rodriguez, wrote a police report detailing an encounter she had with both of the Munozes around 1 a.m. on Sept. 25, 2004, in Loving, and the facts surrounding the crash that is believed to have been alcohol-related.
Two months later, when the village voted to terminate Lassiter's employment, Harvey Rodriguez said he believed the written report was the reason for the termination of the officer who had been with the department since November 2003. Village councilors made the decision to fire Lassiter after a session that was closed to the public. They offered no explanation for the firing.

The written police report prepared by Lassiter after the incident is now filed in District Court as an exhibit to the civil complaint. According to the report, Lassiter was driving a patrol car in Loving near the intersection of Eighth and Maple streets around 1:10 a.m. on Sept. 25 when she was flagged down by the male driver of a white pickup truck. She pulled over to the side of the road, and the pickup truck came up behind her, with the headlights flashing repeatedly, the report states.

The driver, later identified as Arturo L. Munoz Sr., got out of the truck and asked Lassiter, "Do you know who I am?" When Lassiter said she did not know, Munoz said, "I'm your councilman Arturo Munoz." Munoz told her his son who was a juvenile at the time had been involved in a one-vehicle rollover crash on Bounds Road a few minutes earlier. He said he had driven to the scene and picked up his son, who was sitting inside the white pickup truck.

Lassiter stated in the report that she observed minor injuries to the young man's head, but he said he "felt fine."

Munoz Sr. asked Lassiter what he should do, and she replied that the best thing would be for her to contact another law enforcement agency since the crash occurred outside her jurisdiction, the report states.

According to the report, Munoz Sr. then explained that his son had been drinking alcohol, consuming two beers and a margarita earlier in the evening.

Munoz Sr. asked Lassiter, "Is there anything we can do to get rid of the alcohol in his system?" and Lassiter said no, the report states. She again said she would need to contact another law enforcement agency about the crash.

Munoz Sr. then asked Lassiter if she "had to tell them" or if she could "just not say anything" about the alcohol his son had consumed. Lassiter states that she told Munoz Sr. that her integrity would be compromised by such an act and that the best thing they could do is be honest with the investigating officer.

Munoz Sr. then took his son to the hospital and Lassiter went to the scene of the crash, the report states.

Lassiter contacted the Eddy County Sheriff's Department. A dispatcher at the sheriff's department then contacted New Mexico State Police to investigate the crash. Lassiter relayed all the information to state police officer Pete Estrada a relative of the Munozes around 1:30 a.m., the report states.

An hour later, Estrada called Lassiter and told her that Munoz Jr. had admitted to drinking two beers and a margarita, but that he did pass field sobriety tests. Estrada later told Lassiter that he could not issue citations for minor in possession of alcohol, regardless of Munoz Jr.'s admission that he had been drinking, because he could not smell alcohol on the young man's person. Estrada also told Lassiter he could not have a blood draw performed on Munoz Jr.

"Officer Estrada said the reasoning for not issuing a D.W.I. citation had nothing to do with the fact that Munoz and him were cousins," the report states.

Estrada is not included as a defendant in the case.

Lassiter alleges in the civil complaint that the defendants conspired to terminate her employment because she refused to participate in a cover-up of the facts surrounding Munoz Jr.'s crash. She says she was fired from the Loving Police Department in retaliation for performing her duties as a police officer on that night and for speaking out about matters of public concern the crash and the attempted cover-up of Munoz Jr.'s intoxication.

She is seeking a court ordered injunction that would require the defendants to refrain from further retaliating against her. In the civil complaint, she states that she wants to be employed at the Village of Loving or elsewhere without the fear of retaliation.

Summonses have been issued to all of the defendants in the case. Answers have not yet been filed by any of the defendants, according to court records.

Lassiter could not be reached for comment.

Her attorney, G.W. Shoobridge of Hobbs, was out of town on Tuesday. Village attorney Matt Byers was also out of town and unavailable for comment on Tuesday.

EiP Comments:

* We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper or periodical. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and we will remove the article. The articles republished on this site are provided for the purposes of research , private study, criticism , review, and the reporting of current events' We have no wish to infringe the copyright of any newspaper , periodical or other works. If you feel that we have done so then please contact us with the details and where necessary we will remove the work concerned.

Other related articles:

Article sourced from

Carlsbad Current Argus - Carls12 December 2006

Former cop files suit against

EiP Comments:

Carlsbad Current Argus - Carls
12 December 2006