Pubdate: Tue, 13 Jan 2015
Source: Albuquerque Journal (NM)
Copyright: 2015 Albuquerque Journal
Contact:  http://www.abqjournal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/10
Author: Nicole Perez

APD SAYS NARCOTICS UNIT LEADER SHOT OFFICER

Police Reveal Few Details but Say Sting Operation Changed at the Last Minute

Veteran narcotics Lt. Greg Brachle is the Albuquerque police officer 
who shot and critically wounded a fellow officer during a $60 
undercover methamphetamine sting last week, the police department confirmed.

Police didn't release much more new information about the shooting 
Monday - including why exactly Brachle fired or what the perceived 
threat was - but did say that the plan for the operation was changed 
at the last minute and that the undercover officers took the unusual 
step of revealing to the suspects that they were police.

Brachle, who has been with the department at least 18 years, is in 
charge of APD's narcotics unit.

APD spokeswoman Celina Espinoza said Monday that one reason the 
department could not release more details was that investigators had 
not yet interviewed Brachle.

"I think the public has the misperception that if you know the 
surrounding witnesses got interviewed right away, how has (the 
officer's interview) not happened more quickly," Espinoza said. "It 
does seem like there's some time in that process."

The shooting happened just before noon Friday, when two undercover 
officers - identified by police as Jacob Grant and Holly Garcia - 
bought methamphetamine from two suspects. Grant and Garcia were in 
the car with the suspects when something went wrong, Cmdr. Les Brown 
of APD's Special Investigations Division said in an interview.

One of the officers was forced to tell the suspects that they were 
undercover officers, Brown said. He said that's a rare occurrence and 
usually only happens when one of the officers is threatened.

"Usually if circumstances change dramatically, where officer safety 
is an issue, they have to identify themselves as an officer," Brown 
said. But he said he didn't know what the threat was. And he said he 
didn't know why Brachle ended up firing on the officer instead of 
somehow diminishing, or trying to diminish, the perceived threat.

Grant, the officer who was shot and critically wounded, is still at 
the University of New Mexico Hospital in critical but stable condition.

"He's got a long road ahead, surgeries still ahead. But he's doing 
better than expected and the prognosis is much better than it was a 
day ago, so he's continually improving," Brown said. "It's that time 
frame where the doctors really want to watch him, it's a critical time."

The suspected drug dealers, Damian Bailey and Edmond Vester, were 
charged with trafficking drugs and booked into the county jail. 
Neither is facing any violent charges, such as assault or battery on 
an officer.

Brown said every narcotics operation is planned out beforehand to 
minimize risk. But he said the plan changes often because police have 
to "go with the flow" and work with the suspects to make sure the buy happens.

He didn't release the specifics of Friday's plan but said that it 
changed significantly. One undercover detective was supposed to meet 
with one suspect, but the suspect brought along another person, so a 
second officer was added to the buy. Brown said the time and location 
also changed.

"It's really inherently dangerous, but you gotta be fluid when it 
comes to that role, when you're in an undercover capacity," Brown 
said. "You can't really say, 'I'm not going to do this, we have to go 
over here, we have to do the deal here.' You gotta be fluid. There's 
nothing rogue or anything, it's just unpredictable. I wish we could 
control all of that."

Brown said it takes time to interview the witnesses and collect all 
evidence at the scene of shootings. And in the case of an 
officer-involved shooting, the officer is not interviewed until those 
steps are taken.

Friday's sting operation yielded $60 of methamphetamine, a relatively 
small amount of narcotics in the drug world. Brown said the amount 
shouldn't matter, because either way, officers are improving 
residents' quality of life by arresting drug offenders.

"It wouldn't make a difference whether it was $60 or $600 or $6,000, 
it's the same charge. It's trafficking. We don't know if that person 
doesn't have a stash house full of kilos of drugs and we're just one 
of a hundred sales that he's going to make that day," Brown said. 
"It's not the amount. It's to get him off the street to keep him from 
selling drugs in the community. That's the whole point."

According to Journal archives, Brachle was vice president of the 
Albuquerque police union in December 2003 and 2004. He was promoted 
to sergeant in 2006, and later to lieutenant. In recent years, he has 
been interviewed by the news media about drug busts and drug trends.
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