Two UNM professors who said they were beaten by Albuquerque police officers during the March 20 anti-war protest near campus have appealed the decision of the department's chief who dismissed their claims.
Lane Leckman and Durwood Ball said they attended the protest out of curiosity and decided to stay and serve as witnesses should the situation escalate to violence.
"The crowd that day was very peaceful," said Leckman, a psychiatry professor at UNM. "I saw several people there who had to be over 80 and many people with small children."
Albuquerque police officers clad in riot gear soon appeared, and the rally erupted into chaos. More than 10 people were severely injured, including two officers and 17 protesters, many of them UNM students, were arrested.
Leckman and Ball allege they were standing on the sidewalk near the University's bookstore when they were approached by an officer and struck with his metal baton when they refused to disperse.
Leckman and Ball, along with 18 other members of the University community, filed complaints with the Police Oversight Commission, claiming the officers' actions were excessive.
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The complaints, investigated by the department, were all eventually dismissed by Chief Gilbert Gallegos, except one, which led to the indictment of one officer whose actions were found to be excessive that day.
The two professors, unhappy with the chief, attended the Police Oversight Commission's monthly meeting Thursday to appeal the decision to dismiss many of the complaints.
"We, along with many other innocent people, were attacked without provocation or warning that day," said Ball, a history professor at UNM. "I understand that the police have a difficult job, but this was unacceptable."
Ball, who said he believed the strong police presence provoked the crowd into hostility, admitted to the commission that he witnessed several young men in the crowd antagonizing the police.
Paul Chavez, APD deputy chief, speaking on behalf of the department, said the officers used considerable restraint in their use of force, considering many of the protesters chose not to obey orders to leave the scene.
"And where we didn't use proper constraint, the department has taken the appropriate action," Chavez said.
He said he is confident the officers involved in the incident treated the protesters with dignity and respect in their pursuit of doing their job of protecting innocent bystanders nearby.
Chavez, who admitted that APD is inexperienced in dealing with such large protests, said the department has gained important information from the events of March 20 that it hopes to use in similar situations in the future.
Jay Rowland, an independent review officer for the Police Oversight Commission, said the commission agrees with the professors and many of the allegations need to be reinvestigated.
He said because of Leckman and Ball's appeals, the commission will send a letter to Chief Gallegos urging him to reopen the cases.
Rowland noted though, the final word belongs to the chief.
"Regardless of how strong we feel about this, after a certain point it is out of our hands," he said, adding that the professors can appeal to the department's chief administrative officer if their appeals are denied.
