Killing of James Boyd

James Matthew Boyd (April 8, 1975 – March 16, 2014) was an American man who was fatally shot by Albuquerque Police Department officers Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque, New Mexico on the evening of March 16, 2014. A resident of a nearby subdivision called police at 3:28 p.m. to report that a man had been camping on the mountain behind his house for the previous month, a violation of local regulations. Two Open Space officers were the first to respond. They approached Boyd as he lay under a sheet of plastic; Boyd, mentally ill with a diagnosis of schizo-affective disorder, became irate, wanting to know why the "raid" was occurring. When an officer tried to pat him down, he produced two pocket knives, threatening the officers with them. The caller watched the confrontation from his second-story window and later testified that Boyd threatened the officers.

The Open Space officers called for backup and Albuquerque police and New Mexico State police responded. A police officer with crisis intervention training testified that he had made some progress with Boyd, but that his supervisor pulled him off and sent him to secure the perimeter of the standoff location. Officer Mikal Monette testified that Boyd never did drop his knives and surrender, but did put them away and agreed to keep his hands out of his pockets. K-9 officer Scott Weimerskirch stepped into the role of negotiator and supervisor, he said, because there was no dialogue taking place when he arrived.

Boyd eventually said he would depart, picked up some of his possessions, and took a step downhill. An officer said "Do it." (referring to the use of a stun grenade). Sandy threw a Stun grenade at Boyd, and Rick Ingram, the acting ROP sergeant at the site, fired his Taser shotgun, but it did not have any noticeable effect on Boyd. At the same time Weimerskirch sent the dog to bite him, then ran to the dog when it attacked the blue bag rather than Boyd. Startled, Boyd produced the knives again. Perez and Sandy testified that they felt he posed an imminent threat to Weimerskirch. Sandy said he moved closer to cover the dog and its handler. As officers approached, Boyd turned a quarter turn to his left and was shot.

Boyd fell forward, face first, away from the officers, wheezing but still holding a knife in each hand. When he did not respond to commands to drop the knives, another officer fired three beanbag shotgun rounds which struck his buttock and the police dog was again sent to bite him. Boyd arrived at the University of New Mexico Hospital emergency room at 8:15 p.m., underwent extensive surgery, and was pronounced dead of massive trauma at 2:55 a.m. the next morning. Surgeons had amputated his right arm, removed his spleen, part of one lung and part of his colon in their efforts to save his life.

A preliminary hearing was held in August 2015, and the trial of two police officers charged with second-degree murder in Boyd's death began on September 20, 2016.

The trial concluded with Judge Alicia Hadfield declaring a mistrial on October 11, 2016. The jury deadlocked with three voting guilty and nine voting not guilty. The jury deliberated for two days after hearing 12 days of testimony in state district court in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In February 2017, Raúl Torrez, the Bernalillo County District Attorney, after having several prosecutors around the state review the case, announced that he would not refile charges against Officers Sandy or Perez. In July 2017 the United States Attorney's Office in New Mexico said, "After a careful and thorough review into the facts surrounding the shooting, federal investigators determined that there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, a violation of the federal statute," ending the inquiry into possible criminal civil rights violations. Sandy retired from the Department. Perez was fired but appealed his termination. He won his arbitration and subsequently returned to work at the Department in May 2017. He was assigned to a desk job for a year and was barred from responding to patrol calls or providing services. He was awarded back pay and benefits in the amount of $143,159.