Three New Mexico police officers will not be charged for their roles in the shooting death of a Farmington man in April when officers responded to the wrong home.
As Blaze News previously reported, Farmington Police Department officers responded to a domestic violence call on April 5, 2023, at approximately 11:30 p.m. However, police “mistakenly approached the wrong home” where 52-year-old Robert Dotson lived.
Police body camera footage shows three officers knocking on Dotson’s front door and turning themselves in. After getting no response, body camera video shows officers arguing over whether they had the correct address. An officer can be heard laughing on body camera video about the possible mix-up.
Moments later, Dotson opens the front door while wearing a robe and holding a handgun, as seen on police body camera video.
A policeman yelled, “Attention!”
All three officers then fired shots at Dotson, who was pronounced dead at the scene.
CBS News “Mr. Dotson was shot 12 times. His wife, Kimberly, wearing only a robe, came down the stairs to find out what happened, but officers fired 19 more shots,” the complaint said. He fired a bullet at her, but it did not hit her.”
The New Mexico Department of Justice accused Kimberly Dotson of firing at officers and “posing a second imminent threat of death or great bodily harm to the officers.”
On January 26, Deputy Attorney General Greer E. Staley issued the following statement: letter “Under the circumstances of this case, the State would not be able to meet this standard of proof,” he declared, “I have determined that no criminal charges can be sustained under the circumstances,” and deemed the case “closed.” Ta.
To determine guilt, Staley enlisted the help of Seth Stoughton, a former police officer and tenured professor at the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law.
“Professor Stoughton believes that under the circumstances, Officers Daniel Estrada, Dylan Goodluck, and Waylon Wasson did not use excessive force when they fired their weapons and fatally shot Mr. Dotson. “We have provided a detailed report with our conclusions,” the letter said. “His analysis also found that Officers Estrada and Wasson did not use excessive force under the circumstances when they fired their weapons at Mrs. Dotson.”
Stoughton said the officers knocked on the wrong door and “could not have foreseen that it would create an unnecessarily dangerous situation.”
“Unexpectedly, Mr. Dotson opened the front door and storm door and then exited a portion of the home with his firearm raised in a firing position and pointing in the direction of the officers,” the letter states. There is. “At that moment, Professor Stoughton believed that Mr. Dotson presented the officers with a threat of imminent death or great bodily harm, and that all three men fired reasonably and within the bounds of generally accepted police practice. We conclude that he acted.”
After a “comprehensive” review of all the evidence, the New Mexico Department of Justice said, “When there is a threat of serious harm or deadly force, peace officers should not use deadly physical force.” “The officer’s actions were consistent with the lawful use of force.”
In September 2023, Dotson’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico against the City of Farmington and the Farmington Police Department.
The lawsuit accuses the city of failing to properly train officers on the use of force, and alleges that the three officers acted “unreasonably” and “used excessive and unnecessary force.”
The suit also claimed that the fatal police shooting deprived the father of two state constitutional rights, including the right to life and liberty.
Doug Perrin, the Dotson family’s attorney, said: KRQE “One of the disturbing things about the decision not to indict the police is the feeling of not being safe in your own home, because Mr. Dotson certainly wasn’t safe,” he said this week. .”
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico responded to this week’s decision. saying The shooting shows “the need for police reform across the state.”
“New Mexico residents should be able to trust that New Mexico law enforcement officials will do everything in their power to prevent interactions with the public from ending in tragedy,” said Baron Jones, director of research at the ACLU of New Mexico. ” he said.
“We hope that law enforcement officials will use this tragic event as a teaching opportunity to exercise appropriate caution when responding to calls, and to demand de-escalation and strict use of force standards. ” Jones said of the deadly police shooting. “New Mexico has one of the highest per capita police homicide rates in the nation.”
Farmington Police Department Chief Steve Hebb said: statement“We are grateful to the AG’s office and their thorough investigation into this incident. At the same time, we continue to say this is extremely tragic and we are extremely sorry for the loss of the Dotson family. .”
All three officers remained employed by the City of Farmington and returned to work after the shooting.
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(Warning: Graphic content)
Body camera footage released after New Mexico police officer responds to wrong home and shoots manwww.youtube.com
