Disclaimer: This article contains information about a criminal act and may be distressing for some readers. Please read at your own discretion.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – In April this year, Albuquerque police officers responded to a disturbance at a Walmart, but their actions were captured on camera.
According to the source, an officer can be heard on the lapel camera saying, “They never turned my f****** camera off.”
The footage reveals disturbing conversations filled with racial slurs and a troubling admiration for violence, just moments after the police shot and killed 30-year-old Mark Benavidez.
“If it means you shoot some of them, so be it,” one officer says in the recording.
The incident began when officers were called to the Walmart near Wyoming and Menaul to investigate suspected robbers. Benavidez was later identified as one of the suspects.
As officers tried to detain him, a struggle ensued. During the altercation, Benavidez grabbed an officer’s rifle and fired it multiple times into the ground before being shot and killed by the police.
On the body camera footage, an officer expresses a preference for violent confrontations, saying, “I like violent encounters with violent people.
That’s why I became a cop. I didn’t come to f****** help old ladies who can’t cross the f****** road. I want to take actual s***heads that are actually doing stuff off the street.”
While it’s unclear which officer is speaking, their remarks are unapologetic and crude. “Got to get a savage, (inaudible,)” is heard as the audio quality degrades.
The officers also use a racial slur again shortly after, though the context remains unclear.
One officer talks about his son’s relationship with a Native American woman, saying, “My son is dating a Native from Isleta. She gets the check; he’s going to get a f****** free trailer, and some f****** land, a farm down there.”
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The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) has announced an internal investigation into the matter.
APD declined to comment further while the investigation is ongoing.