Family of man who was wielding nail clippers when he was shot by Albuquerque police files suit

By Elise Kaplan / Journal Staff Writer Sunday, April 2nd, 2023 at 10:27PM

The family of a man who was in the midst of a mental health crisis when he was shot by Albuquerque police in the parking lot of the department's headquarters last year has filed a lawsuit against the city saying that there should have been services in place to help him that night instead of officers engaging him in an "armed confrontation."

Jesus Crosby, 41, was clutching nail clippers with the file extended when he was shot by officers Alex Couch and Chance Gore, who both joined the force in 2020. Crosby was taken to the hospital, where he died.

"In this well-lit area of the parking lot, it was reasonably apparent that the object was a pair of nail clippers, or at least that it was not designed for violence," the lawsuit states. "Clinging to the nail clippers, in the grips of a severe mental health crisis, and trapped against the building by three officers aiming their weapons at him, Jesus was in dire need of the de-escalation practices and mental health interventions that the City had committed to implement, and should have implemented, beforehand."

The suit was brought under the New Mexico Civil Rights Act which allows lawsuits to be filed in state court to recover financial damages for violations of the state Bill of Rights.

It claims that the city violated Crosby's right to be free from unreasonable seizures — including unreasonable escalation of police force — and that it deprived his family of the right to associate with him. It also claims that supervisory failures, tactical errors, failures to take cover, increase distance, de-escalate or use less-lethal force and officers’ deviations from policies and procedures led to Crosby's wrongful death.

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In addition to unspecified damages, the suit asks a judge to require that the city fully fund and staff a mental health intervention program to respond to people suffering from a mental health crisis and for the police department to make efforts to notify immediate family of those killed by police before releasing videos of the incident to the media. The Crosby family had not known that the videos of his death had been released two days before Christmas until the Journal called them.

Gilbert Gallegos, an Albuquerque Police Department spokesman, said that the city's legal department has not yet seen the lawsuit and once it does so, it will respond in court.

"As for contacting families prior to providing (on body recording device) video to the media, we will be doing that going forward," Gallegos added.

He sent the Journal a record of APD's Crisis Intervention Team's interactions with Crosby and his older brother.

The record details numerous attempts CIT detectives made to contact Crosby in the three months leading up to his death as well as a couple of times where they were able to speak with him – mainly while he was in custody of the Metropolitan Detention Center. The last time the detective talked with Crosby was on Nov. 2 when they said he was in clinical seclusion, speaking erratically and hard to understand. He was released from jail the next day.

In the early morning hours of Nov. 10, officers were called to arrest Crosby for criminal trespass at the prisoner transport center on 4th and Roma NW. When they arrived they found him across the street and tried to detain him, yelling for him to surrender and drop what they thought was a knife.

Crosby walked away, cursing at them, and about five minutes elapsed as more officers arrived and formed a force array — some carrying less-lethal weapons, others pointing their guns — in front of him. He shuffled back and forth.

Then, the last time Crosby shuffled forward, officers Couch and Gore shot him. Two other officers fired their Tasers simultaneously.

The lawsuit alleges that Couch and Gore should have received training to de-escalate such situations involving mental health crises in the field and either they did not receive that training or they did not follow it.

"Within seconds of his arrival, Officer Couch threatened to shoot Jesus if he ‘took one step,’ even though Jesus was fidgeting and distressed throughout the encounter," the suit states. "Seconds later, Officer Couch declared that if Jesus took a step and Officer (Josh ) DeLeon did not tase him, then he (Officer Couch) would shoot him. As promised, when Jesus shuffled his feet and Officer DeLeon refrained from tasing him, Officer Couch opened fire."

Gallegos has said that an Internal Affairs Force Division investigation concluded that Couch and Gore followed policies when they used force, however "training referrals were submitted for eight officers." He said IAFD also completed a misconduct investigation and it's going through the discipline review process.

Additionally, APD announced last week that a working group tasked with reviewing the 18 shootings by officers in 2022 determined that in Crosby's case the officers did not de-escalate and missed an earlier opportunity to use a Taser in order to take him into custody.

Attorney David Fine, who along with his brother Mark Fine is representing the Crosby family, said he thought APD's recent announcements about changes it is making in the wake of the increase in shootings is "incredibly self-serving."

"They’re not making the recognition that this was a shooting that was outside of APD policy, and it was an unnecessary death that could have been avoided," Fine said. "So I think APD is saying all the right things from a public relations standpoint, there's just not a lot of reason to believe them, unfortunately."