Brawl video contradicts YDDC statements

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Security video obtained by KRQE News 13 details every second of a near-riot at the state juvenile jail in Albuquerque and challenges official statements about what actually happened.

The grainy video recorded last month shows a melee in the Youth Diagnostic and Development Center gym that lasted about 13 minutes as YDDC staff struggled to break it up.

In the beginning of the video shows the calm before the storm as inmates sit at tables playing bingo at a gathering intended to reward students for good behavior in their classrooms.

Then something gets everyone's attention. Seconds later a boy is seen running across the gym and the fight begins.

Later that day Romaine Serna, a spokesperson for the state Children, Youth and Families Department, said one kid started it all.

"One youth on one side of the gym jumped over and attacked a youth on the other side of the gym," Serna told reporters outside the lockup in Albuquerque's North Valley. She called the fight gang-related and also claimed it didn't last very long.

"Staff were able to gain control immediately," Serna said the day of the fight.

However, according to the video, that's not accurate.

The tape revealed that as soon as staff restrained one inmate another fight erupted. Adults had to leave kids they did have under control to break up the new brawl.

Then 20 seconds later another fight can be seen starting up.

From the same angle it appeared that help finally arrived about five minutes after the fighting began. Then when the reinforcements helped calm everything down, restrained inmates begin fighting all over again.

It took four people to finally get one teen under control and many more to restrain a female inmate. That included staff who were forced to leave the teen who'd fought them just seconds before.

Then another angle from the surveillance cameras showed one brazen inmate attacking a kid who is in restraints and being led away. That causes yet another fight.

It went on like that for several more minutes. Six YDDC workers and 25 inmates were hurt that day.

Serna could not answer News 13's question the day of the fight about whether staff had been put in a dangerous situation.

"We had adequate staff, and that is demonstrated by their ability to control this fight so quickly," Serna said.

Serna didn't return News 13's calls asking for further comment, but on Thursday CYFD spokesman Bob Tafoya did. He cast the confusion onto Bruce Langston, superintendent of YDDC at the time, who has since been transferred to other duties.

"(The) CYFD spokeswoman who responded to Channel 13 immediately following the incident reported that there were adequate staff to supervise the residents at the event, based on information reported by Mr. Langston," Tafoya said. "We are now reviewing the accuracy of the information that he provided.

"Mr. Langston was the superintendent who approved this event, and had the Juvenile Justice Division management known about the event they would've acted differently. The event would not have been approved."

Tafoya also said that they had turned the surveillance video of the fight over to the district attorney. CYFD is working with the district attorney to hold the "youth accountable for any delinquent and criminal activity they were involved in," he said.

For his part Langston, in an interview with News 13 , said a handful of violent inmates were behind the troubles at YDDC. Superiors at YDDC ordered him not to implement a plan cracking down on those kids and then made him the scapegoat when the trouble he predicted happened, he said.