The attorney for an Albuquerque police officer accused of driving over and killing a woman in the parking lot of a bar last year questions whether any crime was committed.
Prosecutors and the defense were both presenting testimony Monday morning in a hearing to determine whether there is probable cause for Sgt. Andrew Gallegos to stand trial for the death of 47-year-old Vera Haskell.
Officials contend that Gallegos was at Sidewinders bar on east Central Avenue in April of last year.
They say security video of the bar’s parking lot show Gallegos getting into his pickup truck and backing over the prone body of Haskell twice.
Investigators say the video shows Haskell’s body being dragged beneath the truck’s right front tire. She died of multiple internal injuries and almost all of her ribs were fractured.
Gallegos’ defense says investigators never positively identified the person driving the truck and that Haskell’s blood-alcohol level was nearly fatal.
“Is there a reason to believe that a crime was actually committed?” asked attorney Sam Bregman. “This person didn’t get hit by a car and go down. This person was at 0.436, highly intoxicated, lying underneath the truck.”
Gallegos has never been formally charged and wasn’t arrested until last December – eight months after the death.
Gallegos has said that he was at a party the night Haskell was killed and blacked out.
The probable cause hearing is expected to continue through Tuesday.
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http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/crime/Crime_krqe_albuquerque_apd_sgt_in_court_200903301300
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