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Cops' search for shooter nets lawsuits from ACLU
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In the frenzied hunt earlier this year for double-homicide suspect Michael Paul Astorga, law enforcement got out of control, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico says in two lawsuits expected to be filed today.
Based on a tip that Astorga might be hiding in her Martineztown home, officers pulled Kathy Gonzales, her two teens and her 75-year-old mother out of the house, ordered them to the ground and pointed assault rifles at them while the officers searched the home without a warrant, one lawsuit claims.
"Don't move or we'll shoot," the officers told the family, according to the lawsuit.
No one in the Gonzales family knew Astorga, and only knew his name from news accounts, the lawsuit says.
The other lawsuit claims that the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department harassed, intimidated and illegally searched Astorga's wife's parents and sister.
Astorga, 30, was the target of a massive hunt by 16 local, state and federal agencies after the Sheriff's Department named him as the man who shot and killed Deputy James McGrane Jr., 48, during a traffic stop in Tijeras on March 22.
He was apprehended in Juarez, Mexico, on April 3.
Astorga's wife, Marcella Poolaw Astorga, 25, faces federal charges that she lied to federal investigators to throw them off her husband's trail.
Her father, Rick Poolaw, is retired from 25 years as a New Mexico State Police officer.
The Sheriff's Department has said Rick Poolaw could have been more helpful in the search, but the ACLU lawsuit says he was cooperative and wanted Astorga caught because Astorga had abused his daughter in the past.
The lawsuit claims that authorities seized about $1,500 in cash from Marcella's sister, Chara Poolaw, who also wanted Astorga captured.
Chara Poolaw stood as a witness at Marcella's marriage to Astorga in August 2005.
At the time of the manhunt in March, Marcella Poolaw was about eight months pregnant with Astorga's child.
"These are honest, law-abiding families, people just like any average citizen," said ACLU spokesman Peter Simonson. "These lawsuits are important because they are an example of where a criminal investigation went awry, and where the police failed to abide by the protection the Constitution provides law-abiding citizens."
Undersheriff Sal Baragiola said he couldn't comment on the lawsuits per department policy on pending litigation.
"But I can say it's not surprising with such a high-profile case," Baragiola said.
In that window of days, the Sheriff's Department investigated more than 1,200 leads from the public in addition to the leads that turned up, said Lt. Gregg Marcantel.
Twenty-nine search warrants were executed during the hunt, and for most of those Marcantel estimates there were three consensual searches, totaling more than 100 searches in all.
Sixteen law enforcement agencies from every tier of government participated in the searches.
The lawsuits allege illegal searches and intimidation by agents from the Albuquerque Police Department, Sheriff's Department and New Mexico State Police.
Marcantel, Sheriff Darren White, Detective Timothy Hix and the Bernalillo Commissioners are responsible for the illegal search and intimidation of the Poolaws, according to the lawsuit.
Regarding the Gonzales family, the lawsuit names Albuquerque Police Officers Guadalup Guevara, Riley Etheredge, Sallee Cordova, B. Cordova and a Detective Etheredge, along with State Police Officer Jonathan Salazar.
The lawsuit claims the teens were handcuffed and held at gunpoint by masked officers. Kathy Gonzales persuaded officers not to force her mother to the ground, saying she was infirm.
Astorga is serving time in prison for violating his parole while he awaits trial on the McGrane homicide charges.
He also faces homicide charges in the Nov. 5 shooting death of his long-time rival Candido Ray Martinez, 27.
