By Rozanna M. Martinez
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Four corrections officers face criminal charges in the jailhouse beating of a Corrales man who complained after his DWI arrest and insisted he didn’t want his photo taken during the booking process at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Christopher Shields, 45, claims he was punched, kneed and choked during the incident, some of which was captured on video by a security camera.
According to a criminal complaint, Shields told sheriff’s detectives that, after he was photographed, corrections officer Demetrio Gonzales, 39, grabbed his head and pushed him toward a cement wall saying “this is what I do to my kids if they don’t behave.”
Gonzales then dragged Shields by his shirt collar, making it hard for him to breathe. He was taken to a shower and changeout room, Shields told the detective, where Gonzales punched him in the face, giving him a bloody mouth.
Shields told Gonzales to leave him alone, but the officer kneed Shields about eight times in his rib cage and lower back, according to the complaint. Shields also claimed that Gonzales choked him.
According to the complaint, Shields is 5-foot-9 and 160 pounds. Gonzales is 6-foot-6 and 300 pounds.
After the attack, Shields asked three other corrections officers why they hadn’t intervened.
Corrections officer Kevin Casaus, 23, told Shields “don’t start mouthing off,” then punched Shields in the back of the head, knocking him down, according to the criminal complaint.
Shields told the detective that he tried to cover his face with his forearms as Casaus punched his arms and torso.
Another inmate told the detective that he saw Gonzales take Shields to the shower and changeout room and that he was later asked to clean up the room by corrections officer Matthew Pendley, who the video shows going in and out of the room. According to the complaint, the inmate said he saw blood splatter on the shower walls and floor and a large amount of blood pooled by a drain.
Video surveillance captured Gonzales grabbing, choking and striking Shields. It also shows officers Kevin Casaus, Manuel Marquez and Priscilla Sieben enter a room, watching the attack without stopping Gonzales from hitting Shields, the complaint reads.
Shields was being held Thursday in a cell at MDC and did not require “severe” medical attention, MDC spokeswoman Nataura Powdrell said.
Gonzales and Casaus are charged with aggravated battery, kidnapping, conspiracy and tampering with evidence.
Pendley and Marquez are charged with kidnapping with great bodily harm, tampering with evidence, and conspiracy. Sieben is charged with conspiracy.
All will be placed on paid administrative leave upon release from MDC pending results of an internal investigation by the jail and a criminal investigation by the Sheriff’s Office, according to Powdrell.
“If it is found that the allegations are true, they will be fired,” Powdrell said.
Shields had been arrested about 12:30 a.m. Wednesday on Coors Boulevard near Coors Bypass on Albuquerque’s West Side. It was his fourth or subsequent DWI charge, according to jail records.
“The Chief of Corrections Ramon Rustin is deeply disturbed by this,” Powdrell said. "... Corrections officers are there to ensure the safety of the staff and inmates. This is a big problem and it will be dealt with aggressively.”
Copyright 2011 Albuquerque Journal