New Mexico Police Fatal Shooting of Woman After Car Chase Over “Perceived Moving Violation” That Local Cops Wouldn’t Join Ruled Justified

New Mexico state trooper Oliver Wilson shot at
Jeanette Anaya and her car 16 times at the end of a pursuit that
began over what the District Attorney says Wilson called a
“perceived” moving violation. Although the DA said she did not see
evidence of a moving violation, a grand jury which investigated
only the moments before the shooting ruled the police officer’s
actions
justified. Anaya, according to a surviving passenger in the
car, as well as the DA, tried to avoid being stopped by police out
of a fear of being arrested on a warrant for a “low-level
concealing identity charge.”

Despite the apparent lack of a justifiable cause to compel Anaya
to stop in the first place, the DA appeared to blame the victim in
the shooting, saying Anaya “was so fearful of getting arrested she
lost her life, according to the Albuquerque Journal. As to
the fact pattern surrounding the shooting, the Journal

reports:

Before the shooting, officer Wilson used a driving
maneuver to force Anaya’s Honda sedan to stop on Camino Carlos
Rey.

The State Police have said previously Anaya was “aggressively”
backing toward the officer after he got out of his patrol car.
Reconstruction of the incident and [passenger Jeremy] Munoz’s
testimony indicated that Anaya did in fact backup toward Wilson’s
car, said [district attorney Angela] Pacheco.

As Wilson got out of his patrol car at the end of the chase, Anaya
“was revving the vehicle,” Pacheco said in relating the officer’s
testimony, although she said Wilson’s dash-cam video does not show
Anaya’s vehicle when it traveled in reverse toward him…

The officer, who’s been with the State Police for less than two
years, testified “he was in fear of his life and he was
terrorized,” Pacheco said.

Will Wilson face charges for forcing Anaya’s car to stop despite
appearing to lack a justifiable cause to? Don’t count on it, even
though local cops in Santa Fe refused a request to join the chase
because the State Police could not provide a reason it was
happening. The incident provides another tragic example of the need
for stricter rules about when police are allowed to pursue
vehicles, whether on open roads or in city traffic, especially for
reasons as flimsy as “perceived” moving violations.

Most of the 16 shots Wilson fired at Anaya’s car were while it
was moving away from the officer, according to the DA, who
suggested the copwas trying to stop her from fleeing. Anaya was
fatally shot in the back and neck. A state toxicology report
apparently found cocaine in Anaya’s system, but the
Journal says it wasn’t mentioned in the DA’s report on the
grand jury’s findings. Anaya’s family’s attorney wouldn’t comment
on whether a lawsuit was forthcoming.