Petroglyph |  |
The following Incident Reports were extracted from the NPS Morning Reports/Coalition Reports from 1989-2025. They are not a complete record of all incidents which occurred in this park during this timeframe. INCIDENTS | |
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Friday, July 9, 1993 Around 7:30 a.m. on July 8th, a jogger found a man critically wounded near the volcanoes, an area within the park's boundary but on Albuquerque Open Space land. Open Space rangers and a city ambulance responded. The victim had been beaten and shot in the head. The incident may be related to drug trafficking. The Bernalillo County sheriff's office and Open Space rangers are continuing the investigation. [Reed McCluskey, PETR, 7/8]
On the afternoon of March 13th, interpretive ranger Mike Medrano was contacted near the visitor center by Dr. H.C., a park inholder. H.C. was verbally abusive, made threatening statements and briefly pointed a handgun at Medrano before leaving the area. H.C. lives on property adjacent to the visitor center; although he had previously expressed his unhappiness with the prospect of future federal acquisition of his two-acre residential property, he had not displayed any tendency towards violence. Medrano was the only NPS employee on duty at the time, and therefore requested assistance from chief ranger Reed McCluskey and Albuquerque police. H.C. returned to the scene after the Albuquerque officer arrived. He did not have his gun, but carried two long wooden staffs. He continued to be abusive, confrontational, and threatening, and at times acted irrationally, breaking a window in a nearby building. He eventually left the area without injuring anyone. After other officers arrived, H.C. was contacted by phone and asked to return to the park. He did so and continued his threatening and abusive behavior until arrested by the Albuquerque offices and charged with aggravated assault. Other charges are pending. [Reed McCluskey, PETR, 3/13]
A local resident reported finding a body on the mesa top adjacent to the escarpment near Boca Negra Canyon on the afternoon of June 3rd. Park and city rangers were dispatched to the scene and found the remains of a woman, subsequently identified as C.T., an Albuquerque police sergeant from Laguna Pueblo. A crime scene perimeter was established and an investigation begun. It was determined that C.T. had been killed either the night before or that morning, possibly by a gunshot to the head. She was not on duty at the time of her death. Although the incident occurred inside the park's boundary, it was on land that has not yet been acquired by the park. The case was accordingly turned over to Albuquerque police. Local media coverage has been extensive, and lead to the apprehension of the suspect and recovery of C.T.'s missing vehicle. Services for C.T. at the pueblo and at a Baptist church in the city will be attended by NPS rangers. [Stephen Fisher, PETR, 6/5]
The body of B.C., 54, was found on the top of Butte Volcano in the northwest corner of the park on February 16th. A container of anti-freeze was found beside him, and indications are that his death was a suicide. The body was reported by a visitor who said he'd seen B.C. sitting there the previous day. When the visitor returned on the 16th and saw that B.C. was not moving, he reported the incident to the county sheriff's office. Meanwhile, ranger Fermin Salas was trying to find B.C., as his unattended vehicle had been parked near the park boundary since the 14th. Salas spoke to B.C.'s roommate on the 16th and determined that B.C. had been missing since the 14th and that he had personal and financial problems. Salas returned to the vehicle to begin a search and encountered officers who were responding to the report of the discovery of B.C.'s body. Although autopsy results are not yet available, the coroner believes that the death was a suicide through ingestion of the anti-freeze. [Michael Quijano, CR, PETR, 2/23 and 2/25]
A Piper Malibu flying from Scottsdale to Albuquerque was reported
overdue on the evening of Friday, March 7th. The plane was to have
landed at Double Eagle II airport, located to the west-northwest of the
park; when it failed to appear, the pilot's wife notified authorities. A
search was begun by Albuquerque PD and rangers from the city's Open
Space Division. At the same time, power surges were reported to the
local utility company, which dispatched crews to look for the cause. The
utility crews found the damaged line and downed plane on the northeast
side of Butte Volcano just inside the park. That area of Petroglyph NM
is owned and co-managed by the city of Albuquerque. The plane's
owner/pilot and his son and business partner were all killed in the
crash. State police took over at the scene and secured it through the
early morning. On March 8th, NPS rangers arrived and began working with
Open Space rangers to secure the area for arriving FAA and NTSB
investigators. The investigation was still underway at the time of the
report on Saturday. Rangers were working with other agencies to maintain
security for the area until the investigation is completed and debris
have been removed.
Ranger Jeff Budny was patrolling near the park boundary on the
afternoon of July 25th when he came upon an unoccupied pickup parked off
a dirt road in an area popular for criminal activity, including drug use
and the dumping of stolen vehicles. Budny found the body of a man within
the truck; he and ranger Matt Fuller secured the area until Albuquerque
PD and a state medical investigator could arrive. An empty syringe was
found inside the truck. Investigators determined that the man had
recently been ill, that he was experimenting with drugs, and that he may
have overdosed.
Ranger David Tyroler was hiking in the park's Mesa Prieta Unit while
off-duty on November 5th when he came upon human skeletal remains.
Tyroler contacted ranger Matt Fuller, who searched the area with FBI
agents and representatives from the state medical investigator's office.
They found additional remains and fragments of clothing scattered over a
50-yard wide area on steep volcanic rock. The remains were collected for
medical analysis. The identity of the victim and cause of death remain
unknown.
A day after the media expressed shock over a video of a man being tasered by a ranger while in the park, expanded video footage subsequently revealed showed the victim lying and refusing police orders for seven minutes. In the expanded footage, D.H., who gave a different name to the officer, repeatedly refused to identify himself and walked away despite requests to stay with his female companion and a dog. The incident took place on Sunday, December 27th. What began as a friendly interaction and request by the ranger to avoid the area sacred to Native Americans ended when D.H. began filming the officer, refused to put his dog down as asked, and started yelling, "Help!" At that point, the unidentified ranger tasered D.H. Even after he was tasered, D.H. refused the ranger's orders. "While the incident remains under investigation," said the park in releasing the additional video, "we are sharing more details and the facts as we know them in an effort to provide as much transparency as possible. Prior to the officer using his electronic control device, or taser, the officer attempted to resolve the interaction with an educational contact and simple warning. During this initial interaction, both individuals provided fake names and dates of birth to the officer." Source: Paul, Bedard, Washington Examiner.
A 48-page lawsuit has been filed against the National Park Service, the City of Albuquerque, and the U.S. Department of the Interior over a December 2020 incident in the park that resulted in an individual getting tased by a ranger. Two individuals with a dog stepped off the trail in the park and were asked by a ranger to return to the designated path. The party claims they returned to the path, but one refused to give identification and gave a fake name. The situation escalated and the individual was tased by the ranger. The individual was given citations for interfering with agency function, false information, and being off-trail. The individual claims that the rules for trail travel should not apply to them due to Native American heritage. The lawsuit alleges both excessive force and violations of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. The National Park Service investigated the incident and determined in March 2021 that the officers involved had acted within NPS policy. Source: KOB4, KRQE
The NPS has filed for dismissal of a lawsuit by the individual who was tased by officers in the park in December 2020 (see 12/28/22 Coalition Report). The individual's attorneys have not yet responded to the filings. Source: KRQE
On April 15, the park issued a partial closure for the uppermost segment of the Mesa Point Trail and the mesa top area within Boca Negra Canyon due to "countless incidents of damage and vandalism," including the moving of rocks into stacked cairns, as well as scratched graffiti. Source: Petroglyph National Monument
A federal judge dismissed "several parts" of the lawsuit related to a December 2020 tasing incident by law enforcement upon a visitor (see 12/28/22 and 11/15/23 Coalition Reports). Multiple counts of the civil suit were dismissed, including the count related to the use of excessive force. No trial date has been set for the case. Source: KRQE | |