A civil rights group is suing the city of Albuquerque , its police department and top officials on behalf of a man who was among those arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated and allegedly forced to pay bribes to get the charges dropped.
The DWI scandal already has mired the police department in New Mexico’s largest city in a federal investigation as well as an internal inquiry. One commander has been fired, several others have resigned and dozens of cases have been dismissed.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico filed the lawsuit late Monday in state district court. It alleges that Police Chief Harold Medina was aware of an agreement between some officers assigned to the DWI Unit and a local attorney’s office to work together to get cases dismissed in exchange for payment.
The police department and the city planned to address the latest allegations in a statement later Wednesday.
The ACLU filed the complaint on behalf of Carlos Sandoval-Smith, saying he was one of dozens of people who were “victimized” as part of the scheme for five years.