ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – New video from the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) shows a man getting aggressive with officers during his arrest for indecent exposure. He is the same man who was in jail five years ago on murder charges and was let out because of a paperwork mistake – Jacob Lopez.
In the video from October 2022, two APD officers can be seen approaching Lopez after he was allegedly seen touching himself in an alley off Central Avenue. During an ensuing confrontation with police, Lopez has trouble following along and is seen talking to himself. “You’re right outside of a school. You’re lucky kids didn’t see you!” one officer can be heard saying.
Eventually, Lopez walks away but then turns around and becomes aggressive. In the video, he can be seen charging at the first officer whilst yelling and swearing. He walks away, and police follow him down the alley. Then he turns around, and charges at the second officer.
Police eventually put him in handcuffs and charged him with two counts of assault on a peace officer along with indecent exposure. However, these are just the latest charges on a long rap sheet which includes murder charges.
Police say Lopez beat a 62-year-old man to death outside of a store near Central and Wyoming in 2015 while trying to rob him of his backpack. However, two years later, a judge ruled him incompetent to stand trial and sent him to the state behavioral health institute in Las Vegas.
The Department of Health had two months to file paperwork to keep him in court-ordered treatment after ruling he was dangerous. They missed the deadline, and as a result, the judge threw his case out – putting Lopez back on the streets.
Since then, Lopez has racked up more charges including damage to property and more charges of assault on officers and a health care worker. Lopez is now behind bars waiting for another competency evaluation.
Lopez’ charges related to the police video have been dismissed, at least for now. He is being held on charges related to an incident in June where he’s accused of attacking a police car, shattering a storefront window, and then spitting on a nurse who was treating him after his arrest. There is no date scheduled for that competency hearing yet.
