A New Mexico police chief told investigators he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and knowingly removed his body camera after a collision with another driver earlier this year, according to a new internal investigation.
“I was astonished because it was so ridiculous,” said Tom Glover, an attorney and former Albuquerque police officer. He told KOAT Last Friday.
Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina ran a red light after someone fired shots near his pickup truck on Feb. 17, 2024. An internal investigation found that the chief violated department policy by not turning on his body camera when he struck and seriously injured another driver. (City of Albuquerque)
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Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina and his wife were on their way to a press conference in a plain police pickup truck on the morning of February 17. According to reports, Medina was stopped at a red light when two people began fighting on the sidewalk next to the truck. One of them then pulled out a gun and opened fire, Medina said. He spoke after the incident.
Surveillance footage shows Medina running a red light and speeding through a busy intersection, weaving his pickup truck between two cars before crashing into the Mustang in a T-shaped motion. The other driver was hospitalized with severe injuries, including eight broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a broken shoulder blade, a collapsed lung and multiple cuts. KOAT reported in March.
A recently released internal investigation report said Medina turned on his body camera “to provide evidence that I had it in my possession,” but he told investigators that he “invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and therefore intentionally did not record the incident.”
Glover likened the confession to a “nuclear bomb.”
“The idea that he has Fifth Amendment rights would suggest that he's in custody,” Glover told KOAT. “He's not in custody. He's on the job.”
Excerpts from the internal investigation into the Medina crash on Feb. 17, 2024. (Albuquerque Police Department IA Professional Standards)
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Albuquerque Police Department rules do not allow officers to avoid recording “mandatory videotaped incidents based on the fact that videotaped evidence may be used in a subsequent criminal investigation,” the investigation report noted.
Medina received and signed two disciplinary letters in July, one for dangerous driving in a police-issued vehicle and one for failing to record an accident.
KOAT legal analyst John Day told the outlet that Medina's actions may violate state law.
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New Mexico Law Activation Required Body-worn cameras would only be used “when an officer responds to a call for service or at the beginning of any other law enforcement or investigative encounter between an officer and a member of the public.”
The law also prohibits “the deactivation of body-worn cameras until an interaction with a law enforcement or investigative agency has concluded.”
The Albuquerque Police Department did not respond to a request for comment Monday about the internal investigation report.
