Albuquerque Journal, N.M., Joline Gutierrez Krueger column

Source: Albuquerque Journal, N.自存倉M.July 26--Her face, puffy and purple, reminded me of that belonging to a dead woman I saw in crime scene photos who had been beaten and strangled and was days into decomposition.It was that bad.So bad that, three weeks after Laurie Montano says her head was slammed into a cinder block wall at the Metropolitan Detention Center, the angry bumps and bruises are only now fading to gray. So bad that I had to go to her Facebook account to get an idea of what she looked like before July 3.Several gruesome photos of her injuries were posted on Facebook by her sister, Yvette Hawkins. The photos elicited hundreds of outraged comments and prompted more than 2,673 re-posts nationwide."What kind of madness is this!!!!!" Hawkins wrote below the photos. "This kind of brutality has to be stopped!!!"Among those who saw the photos was Nataura Powdrell, MDC public information officer. She knew it wouldn't be long until some nosy news person started asking questions.And she was right.Powdrell said she had the surveillance videos pulled, consulted with MDC civil litigation administrator Mike Martindale, who did some checking of his own on the matter, and notified MDC Chief Ramon Rustin in advance of the questions, including mine.They could find nothing that confirmed Montano's version of what happened."I feel really bad for her," Powdrell said. "But that didn't happen here."In the video, which MDC provided to the Journal (and you can see for yourself online), Montano is seen being escorted by a corrections officer into a sally port and frisked against the wall. Although the officer is somewhat brusque, it's unclear to me whether any actions crossed the line or were violent enough to have caused severe injuries."I've watched that video frame by frame and at no time does her forehead touch the wall," Martindale said.Yet less than three hours after the sally port pat-down, Montano was photographed for her mug shot and, in that photo, a distinctive goose egg is seen emerging on her forehead.No wounds were noted in the Albuquerque police report taken at the time of her arrest. Had she appeared injured that morning, police would probably have taken her boyfriend to jail as well.So what happened?According to the police report, officers were called at 6:14 a.m. July 3 to handle a domestic dispute at the Southeast Heights apartment Montano, 47, shared with her 48-year-old boyfriend of eight months. Montano -- described by officers as upset, uncooperative and drunk (Montano denies being intoxicated and said she was not given any sobriety or breath test) -- said her boyfriend had pulled a knife on her the night before. But the boyfriend told police she had punched and slapped him. Because officers noted a "small scratch" on the boyfriend's nose, Montano was charged with misdemeanor battery on a household member and hauled off to jail, barefoot and clad in the T-shirt and shorts she slept in, and not allowed to take her medication for lupus, fibromyalgia and arthritis.It was her second arrest. In 2009, she was charged with disorderly conduct and obstructing an officer after she tried to 迷你倉新蒲崗ersuade police not to take a young relative into custody. Those charges were later dismissed.During the search in the sally port, which MDC officials say occurred at 8:34 a.m. and lasted 30 seconds, Montano said she was forced to lift her arms above her head, which is hard for her because of her illnesses."They took that as me having an attitude," she said. "I told her she was hurting me, that I had lupus. But she pushed me against the wall, crushed my face into the wall and said, 'This is what we do to people who have an attitude.' "Montano said she could feel her forehead and face begin to swell and had to apply a chilled bologna sandwich to her face to ease the pain."They treated me that way because I was weak," she said, bursting into tears, which she does with regularity these days. "Because I was afraid to be there."She also said MDC officers would not provide toilet paper and told her to use her hand to clean herself because "criminals don't deserve toilet paper."Powdrell said that allegation is also untrue. Video evidence, she said, indicates that at 10:40 a.m. an officer brought her a wad of toilet paper in her cell.Montano's bail was posted at 3:46 p.m. and she was released around 8:30 p.m. to a family member, Powdrell said.After her release, Montano said, family members took her home to shower and change her soiled clothing, and then to the emergency room at Presbyterian Hospital, where she was seen at 10:09 p.m., according to hospital records.The records indicate she suffered head and face trauma.A Bernalillo County sheriff's deputy took her report at the hospital. That investigation is ongoing, Rustin said.On Thursday, Rustin said he would also ask for an additional external investigation into Montano's claims. An internal investigation conducted by Martindale has already concluded."In other incidents where I have had doubts about what happened, I immediately place the officer accused on administrative leave," Rustin said. "In this case, I don't see it."The accused officer is not on administrative leave and has never had allegations of excessive force lodged against her, MDC officials said.But neither Rustin nor the others in his office at MDC on Thursday afternoon could explain how Montano could have suffered such injuries on July 3."We're going to have to assure the public that it didn't happen here," Rustin said.Montano and her sister remain resolute."People need to see what's going on," Hawkins said. "Just because you go in there, you shouldn't be treated like an animal."Something happened to Montano's face. We just may never know what.UpFront is a daily front-page news and opinion column. Comment directly to Joline at 823-3603, jkrueger@abqjournal.com or follow her on Twitter @jolinegkg. Go to www.abqjournal.com/letters/new to submit a letter to the editor. VideoGo toABQjournal.comto see the surveillance video of Laurie Montano and jail personnel at the Metropolitan Detention Center.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) Visit the Albuquerque Journal (Albuquerque, N.M.) at www.abqjournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉出租