ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – One of the highest-ranking Albuquerque police officers under federal investigation for taking bribes to torpedo DWI cases was under investigation nearly a decade ago. Should Justin Hunt have been kicked off the force before he ever rose to lieutenant?
A 2016 incident report shows Hunt was accused of abusing his child and his ex-wife reported him to be dangerous. But the case went nowhere, and Hunt kept his job at the Albuquerque Police Department. KRQE Investigates asked the department how that happened.
Lapel camera footage from the February 2016 call for service showed Albuquerque police responding to the home of Hunt’s ex-wife’s family member. They told police they believed Hunt abused his then-four-year-old son. “When we changed him, he had a black and blue handprint here and right here on his back,” the family member reported.
At that point, Hunt had been divorced for a little more than a year. The family told the responding officers that Hunt had custody of the boy for the past two days and caused the bruising. “We asked him where it was from. He said Daddy hit me five times,” a family member told APD. They also claimed this happened before and they called the police then, too. “We’ve gone through this three times, four times already,” the family member said. That’s why, this time, the family member explained they requested a sergeant respond.
APD confirmed that the family reported allegations against Hunt in 2015. However the responding officer did not believe a crime occurred, so the incident was only forwarded to the Children, Youth, and Families Department.