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Hispanic area targeted for DWI

Judge: Roadblocks were unconstitutional

By Maggie Shepard
Friday, November 17, 2006

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A DWI case dismissed in the name of Hispanics living in the South Valley has some residents in those neighborhoods shaking their heads in disagreement.

Metro Court Judge Wayne Griego dismissed Keith Jones' May 6 DWI case on Monday after Jones' defense attorney argued the Albuquerque Police Department roadblock that caught Jones, who is white, was unconstitutional.

Attorney Kenneth Wagner successfully argued that the city roadblock, along with a Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department roadblock set up two miles away, unreasonably targeted predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods, including the one Jones lives in.

Wagner said Thursday that if only one roadblock had been set up, he wouldn't have seen a problem with it. But together the roadblocks - one on Bridge Boulevard Southwest just west of the Rio Grande, the other on Central Avenue at Sunset Road - effectively "cordoned off a predominantly ethnic part of town," he said.

But leaders of some of those neighborhoods don't see it that way.

"Sometimes a lot of us feel we are targeted because we are Hispanic or whatever, but not when it comes to DWI," said George Montoya, who lives in the Vecinos del Bosque neighborhood between Central and Bridge adjacent to the river.

Plus, said Rick Jenkins, vice president of the neighboring Crestview Bluff Neighborhood Association, "they were targeting anyone coming to the West Side. But the West Side is half of Albuquerque."

Judge Griego could not comment on the case because it isn't yet over.

The District Attorney's Office plans to appeal his ruling before a District Court judge by the end of the month, said Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Cade, who oversees prosecutions in Metro Court.

But Cade said he wasn't concerned that Griego's ruling would start a flood of similar defense claims.

"We think this was one case in which an incorrect decision was made, and we plan to appeal it," he said.

Wagner agreed, saying he has talked about the case with other defense attorneys since Griego's ruling.

"Not too many folks are in the same shoes as my client. I think this was a one-time deal," he said.

That's because it is unusual for two roadblocks to be at such essential roadways so close together on the same night and the same time, Wagner said.

"I don't think our police department is racist, but the roadblocks set up in that configuration are unreasonable," he said.

Albuquerque Police Deputy Chief Paul Chavez said the department doesn't use race as a factor in determining where roadblocks are set up.

"We don't care what the drivers look like unless they look like they are drunk," Chavez said.

Alcohol-related crash statistics and alcohol-related traffic stops are what drive roadblock placement, he and Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Erin Kinnard Thompson said.

"We go to where criminal activity happens, so the citizens in that particular community are probably happy we are there," Chavez said.

Jeanette Baca, president of the Alamosa Neighborhood Association between Central and Bridge west of Coors Boulevard, said she is one of those happy community members.

"I just feel that if they are drinking and driving it doesn't matter what part of the city; they just need to be stopped," she said.