Velarde Fire Chief Takes Aim At Sheriff and EMA Director
The strange case of the New Mexico fire chief who was arrested at an incident scene as a way to relieve him of command, is in the news again – this time with an entirely new twist.
Fire Chief Eddie Velarde, of the Velarde Fire Department, was arrested by Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Adam Archuleta on March 29, 2011 and charged with disorderly conduct. At the time Chief Velarde was the incident commander at a 3.2 acre interface fire that damaged 3 structures and 3 vehicles.
According to the headlines at the time of the arrest, Archuleta claimed Chief Velarde was out of control and his arrest was done in the interests of public safety. Archuleta later charged Chief Velarde with concealing his identity and obstructing a sheriff’s officer. The allegations made national news and caused considerable embarrassment, humiliation, and stress for Chief Velarde personally and the Velarde Fire Department.
Chief Velarde and his attorney, Diego Zamora, vehemently contested the criminal charges. At his trial last July, Chief Velarde was acquitted of all three charges. According to Zamora, under cross examination Archuleta was at a loss to explain how someone he had known for over a decade could attempt to “conceal his identity” – the basis for 2 of the 3 charges.
Also at issue in the case is the role played by county EMA director Mateo DeVargas, with whom Chief Velarde has had past run-ins. DeVargas was assigned to coordinate evacuation of the fire area, establish perimeter control, and track arriving resources. Chief Velarde claims that following his arrest, he heard Archuleta state “Mateo, you got what you wanted, you are now incident commander.”
The case entered an entirely new phase this week when Zamora and co-counsel Patrick Brito filed a civil suit against Archuleta, DeVargus and Rio Arriba County alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious abuse of process, defamation, and conspiracy. The allegations, if proven, are a serious indictment of law enforcement in Rio Arriba County.
The suit was filed on Wednesday. Here is a copy of the complaint: Complaint-VELARDE
It is a good read. The case raises a number of important concerns – not the least of which are the ICS implications of subordinate law enforcement authorities arresting an IC because they question his actions. For news on the story.
Curt,
What a change of facts from what was originally reported. Two thoughts come to mind while I digest the complaint. First, it appears to me that if the deputy was unjust in his actions, then he interfered with the lawful execution of duties by a firefighter. In many states this constitutes a violation of criminal law most closely related to Interfering with an officer. Second, in the actions of the County EMA director, a figurehead in Emergency Response for the County, he with clearly defined intent, failed to exact his duties as a Emergency Responder, Although, this action may not be criminal in nature, then it should be grounds for administrative action up to, and including termination.
As you have stated before, ICS and NIMS do not have a recourse for situations where the IC may be acting incompetently, and although there is no indication of this here, it does raise the concern for future incidents.
Speaking from a professional law enforcement command point of view, I am embarrassed by the poor judgement used by the Deputy, who if I am correct, is a command level law enforcement officer. His actions, even if inflated in the complaint, do not comply with letter, nor the spirit of his sworn oath of office and raises question to his competency to command.
Operationally speaking, if the Director of EMA did not feel that he had a grasp of the overall picture of event, then he should have acted on the assignment of duties, and found the first competent person to continue those duties, so he could meet with the IC and discover what was going on. Instead, he chose to ignore the assignment and abandon his duties. This is not acceptable.
Thanks JW
I am not sure about the law enforcement training standards in Rio Arriba. Here in the Northeast it is inconceivable that somone would be given a badge and gun without attending a police academy, and then serving under a FTO.
However, in some places – a sheriff is elected, and once elected can appoint his buddies to be deputies with little to no training. Again – I am not saying that is what’s going on here – but I cannot fathom something like that occuring in the Northeast. Can you?
A concern I have – is that if a subordinate police officer (ie a resource who is on the scene of an incident and who should be reporting to – not arresting the IC) can arrest an IC for acting in a way the officer deems to be… let’s say troublesome… then doesn’t every police officer who responds to an incident have a veto power over the IC? Is that how ICS is supposed to play itself out?
I am thinking that perhaps ICS needs to have a procedure for the replacement of an IC who is deemed to be “incompetent” – like the military has for the relief of a commanding officer. It should not be up to a police officer using his arrest powers.