ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The fallout from the DWI dismissal scandal continues as the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office dropped even more DWI cases. That happened because those cases depend on officers who have been implicated in the scandal. Last month the Albuquerque Police Department put two more officers on leave and identified a third, Timothy McCarson, who retired in 2022.
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That brings the total to 13 officers, the department has named in connection to the FBI’s probe into a decades-long scheme, involving officers taking payoffs to make DWI cases go away. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office also identified its first deputy placed on leave relating to the investigation– Jeff Hammerel.
Between Hammerel and McCarson, the district attorney’s office has dismissed 17 more open cases including five defendants whose DWI cases involved a crash, five others who had been charged with DWI at least once before, and one with another DWI case pending. Since news of the scandal broke a year ago, that brings the total dropped cases to 230.
The DA’s office said it was forced to dismiss these cases when an officer’s credibility is compromised. So far, no officers have been charged in the scheme.