NEW MEXICO — Farmington Police released video footage showing the violent struggle on Sept. 6 between Officer David Rock and Heriberto Nava-Martinez at San Juan Regional Medical Center moments before the officer shot the suspect. (Scroll down for video)
WTF reports: “The footage, which is from Rock’s body camera, shows the officer conversing with Martinez in Spanish outside a hospital room shortly after 10 p.m. Sept. 6, less than an hour after Farmington police arrested Nava-Martinez on allegations he crashed a stolen pickup truck through the front gates of a Farmington business and then drove it erratically up and down East Main Street.
Nava-Martinez, 23, was transported to San Juan Regional Medical Center after the incident due to health concerns and to have his blood tested for drugs and alcohol.
Shortly after the conversation with Rock, the video appears to show Nava-Martinez lunging at the officer, and the men wrestle while Rock calls for help.
The video shows Rock firing three rounds at Nava-Martinez in two separate incidents as Nava-Martinez alternately charges at the officer and then runs away from him.
“Stop! Stop!” Rock can be heard yelling in the video, after shooting Nava-Martinez once. “You cannot go for my gun! Get down! Get down!”
Nava-Martinez eventually drops to the floor while screaming and is handcuffed by Rock, who then calls for a doctor. An activated taser can be seen in the video on the floor near Nava-Martinez. San Juan County Chief Deputy District Attorney Dustin O’Brien said Thursday that he is still waiting on certain medical records before determining whether to criminally charge Rock in the shooting.
But he said he does not expect those records would change his current opinion, which is that Rock was justified in shooting Nava-Martinez.
“I don’t see anything in the medical records that would change what you see and what you hear in the video,” O’Brien said.
Hebbe said Nava-Martinez’s blood test was positive for both methamphetamine and marijuana.
O’Brien said the evidence suggests Nava-Martinez was only shot twice, once in each side of his torso. Nava-Martinez was in critical condition for several days after the shooting, despite receiving almost immediate medical attention.
It also took detectives several days to identify Nava-Martinez, who is a Mexican national.”
The struggle begins around the 4:45 mark in the video.
