Copyright 2006 Albuquerque Journal
By OLIVIER UYTTEBROUCK
Albuquerque Journal (N.M)
The family of a 73-year-old woman who was struck and killed by a police car say officers squandered critical minutes after the accident early Sunday morning, which might have cost Flora Aragon her life.
But Albuquerque police and firefighters point to dispatch records showing that paramedics arrived six minutes after the officer reported the accident by radio.
Officer Zachariah Floyd, 23, remained on paid administrative leave Monday, a day after his police cruiser veered into Aragon’s yard, slammed through a cement block wall and pinned her against the picnic table where she was sitting with family members shortly after midnight.
“My grandmother shouldn’t have died that night,” said Denise Baker, one of Aragon’s 29 grandchildren. “It took (emergency workers) a while to start working on my grandmother because they were working with the officer, who wasn’t injured.”
But police and firefighters said they responded promptly after Floyd reported the accident at 12:12 a.m. Police spokesman John Walsh said Monday that police arrived by 12:14 a.m.
Albuquerque Fire Department Capt. Mike Paiz said medical rescue workers arrived at 12:18 a.m. and transported Aragon to a hospital within 10 minutes. Aragon was alive at the scene, he said.
Family members also contend that officers seized a camera from one of Aragon’s granddaughters as she tried to take photos of the accident scene in Aragon’s yard at the corner of 53rd and Crestview SW.
Police have no record of the seizure. “I have no one that confiscated a camera that I know of,” Walsh said.
Albuquerque police, State Police and the Bernalillo County sheriff’s deputies are performing a joint investigation of the crash.
Aragon’s daughter, Tonnie Sanchez, 52, and Sanchez’s boyfriend, Ismael Villalobo, 39, were treated for minor injuries after the crash.
Police also say Floyd was following proper procedure as he responded to a report of a domestic violence on 53rd Street, several houses south of Aragon’s.
Walsh offered no estimate of the speed Floyd was traveling when his car struck Aragon’s wall. Speed is one of the factors investigators will consider, he said.
Services for Aragon are pending.