Serial jaywalker charged in cop attack

SANTA FE (KRQE) - Santa Fe police have arrested a man they say is a serial jaywalker who is now facing felony charges for attacking and stabbing an officer.

On Tuesday around noon all six lanes of of Cerrillos Road were busy with lunchtime traffic when an officer noticed a man jaywalking and told him to use a crosswalk.

The officer down the street makes a U-turn, only to find the same man, now identified as Christian Barney--doing the same thing.

"(The officer) yelled out at him, and the male didn't stop," Sgt. Andrea Dobyns said.  "Then he darted across more lanes of traffic."

That's when the officer pulled over and tries to stop him. 

As video from the officer's dash camera shows, things went downhill from there.

"This man punched the officer in the face," Sgt. Andrea Dobyns told KRQE News 13.

But Barney, 53, didn't stop there.

"The suspect actually ripped off the badge from the officer's shirt, and it had opened," Dobyns said.  "He stabbed the officer with his own police badge in his arm."

Barney is someone police are familiar with.

His charges from a 2010 incident are almost identical to the ones in this case. 

"Again in the median of the street; again this man attacked the officer," Dobyns said.

Last week a Santa Fe City Council committee rejected a proposal to increase the fine for jaywalking from $25 to $150, but police say it's still a big issue in the city.

"It's not so much we want to throw people in jail for jaywalking, but it's a safety issue because we have a lot of pedestrian fatalities," Dobyns said.

Police say three people were killed last year and one already this year after being hit by cars while crossing busy streets in Santa Fe.

They were all jaywalking.

The officer involved in the fight is fine and back on duty.

Barney faces eight felony charges including aggravated assault on a peace officer.