City won't investigate claim cop lied

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Another ex-Albuquerque cop who was acquitted of murder , claims APD brass dealt him a low blow , then lied about it.

After Orlando Camacho saw what a deputy chief said to News 13 in an interview several months ago he filed a complaint with the city. But, the city has decided not to investigate his claim.

“They are just covering for him because he's wrong,” said Camacho. “It's the good ole boy system with APD right now.”

This all stems from a story News 13 ran August 31st - but let's go back even further.

In 2006 Camacho, an APD cop, shot and killed the man who acted as his father figure during a fight. He was acquitted of second degree murder in 2009; after that APD returned personal items taken from him the night of the shooting.

He says inside his stuff, APD had put the shell casing of the fatal bullet. Camacho thinks it was meant as a dig from his former department. But, in August this is what now-retired deputy chief Paul Feist told News 13, “Absolutely in no way did we mean to be disrespectful to anybody. It's that person's property that property was returned by order of a judge.”

But the casing technically wasn't Camacho’s property; it was the city's. That bullet was fired from his department issued gun, and was owned by the city.

After that interview, Camacho filed a complaint with the independent review officer; the city's top watchdog for the PD. Camacho said Feist lied in the interview about why the casing was returned.

A few days ago Camacho got a letter saying the IRO would not review his case because he filed the complaint too late, and that the office only investigates claims within 90 days of an incident.

“My next step is with the department of justice because he lied,” said Camacho. “If it was a regular officer on the street the rank and file officer they would have fired him, suspended him, they would have given it to him.”

The IRO declined an interview with News 13.

City council made that 90 day rule for the IRO; the council president told News 13 he will bring up this issue to discuss if the time limit should be extended.

Camacho was fired by APD but sued for wrongful termination and won. He did not get his job back but according to online court records he was awarded six-thousand dollars.