Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
A New Mexico State Police report shows an unnamed Santa Rosa dispatcher refused to send an ambulance to aid a dying New Mexico State Police officer on March 15 because the location was “out of their jurisdiction.”
The director of communications for Santa Rosa Dispatch denied the allegation.
The allegation was made by NMSP Officer Nathan Schwebach in state police reports obtained by the Quay County Sun. Schwebach is stationed out of Santa Rosa in Guadalupe County.
NMSP Patrol Officer Justin Hare died in Tucumcari’s hospital about 2 1/2 hours after he was shot on Interstate 40 west of Tucumcari, then dumped on a frontage road near Montoya in Quay County.
Montoya is about 38 miles from Santa Rosa and about 22 miles from Tucumcari.
Santa Rosa’s emergency services director said he was disturbed by the report and vowed to investigate.
Justin Rodgers, director of Santa Rosa EMS, said in a phone interview he hadn’t previously heard that one of his ambulances had been requested for Hare.
“To be honest with you, this is the first I’m learning that we were requested to go into Quay County,” Rodgers said when asked about the report. “We would never turn them down.”
Rodgers later said he couldn’t find evidence of a refusal for Santa Rosa ambulance service, but he believed Schwebach’s account after reading the report.
“This is not something I would ever allow,” Rodgers stated in a text message about the refusal of an ambulance. “I will dig til I find the breakdown or disconnect.
“I knew Justin personally and I stand with law enforcement and the entire county of Quay,” he told the Sun.
“Y’all are our neighbors and friends, and I would never hesitate to offer assistance or deny mutual aid resources. EVER!!!”
Valerie Tenorio, director of communications for Santa Rosa Dispatch, also stated in an email there was no record of 911 calls or radio traffic coming in or out of the city’s dispatch department between the time Hare was shot and the time he was located on March 15.
“Santa Rosa Dispatch was never notified by NMSP Dispatch or Quay County Dispatch on the incident unfolding,” Tenorio wrote.
She noted a 911 call that occurred at 8:15 a.m. that was “the first indication that something was going on in that area.”
“At 8:21 a.m., Santa Rosa Dispatch called back again asking NMSP Dispatch if an Ambulance was needed,” Tenorio wrote. “This is when the NMSP Dispatcher disclosed to Santa Rosa the officer had passed.”
New Mexico State Police had little to say about Schwebach’s allegation when initially contacted by email.
“NMSP is not in a position to speak on the policies or decisions made by other agencies/entities,” stated Lt. Philip Vargas, a public information officer. “NMSP has not been in contact with Santa Rosa EMS since the incident.”
An attempt to contact Schwebach by phone at his station in Santa Rosa was unsuccessful. Another officer there said a NMSP public information officer should be contacted about the matter. An email to the public information officer was not answered.
Jaremy Smith of South Carolina is charged with shooting Hare three times in the head or neck after the officer stopped to help Smith with a flat tire on I-40. The shooting happened shortly before 5 a.m. March 15 west of Tucumcari.
After the attack, Smith is accused of hijacking Hare’s patrol vehicle, then dumping the mortally wounded officer by the side of a frontage road several miles west.
New Mexico State Police investigators interviewed NMSP Officer Schwebach about police attempts to aid the wounded Hare after he was found dumped by the side of the frontage road.
According to the officer interviewing Schwebach: “He … explained an ambulance was requested out of Santa Rosa due to (potentially) being closer to Santa Rosa than Tucumcari, but Santa Rosa refused to send an ambulance because it was out of their jurisdiction.
“Officer Schwebach explained the severity of the situation … to Santa Rosa, but they still refused to send an ambulance.”
An ambulance from Quay County did respond to the scene, and Hare was taken to Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari, where he was declared dead.
Rodgers, of Santa Rosa EMS, said there had been previous problems with mutual-aid requests with Quay County.
“It’s not the first time we’ve had issues,” he said, but did not elaborate.
This month, Guadalupe County voted to take over operations of Santa Rosa EMS following months of negotiations. The city’s EMS service had been under strain since the state suspended Vaughn’s ambulance service last year.
Tucumcari officials expressed frustration when told of Schwebach’s report.
“Why wouldn’t they respond? It’s an obvious emergency,” Tucumcari City Manager Paula Chacon said.
“I would send them (into Guadalupe County) no matter what. I’m not going to hesitate on sending anybody,” she said.
She noted Tucumcari ambulances were sent across the Guadalupe County line to assist in a 30-vehicle pileup near Cuervo in January.
Tucumcari Mayor Mike Cherry, the city’s fire chief for about 20 years, said the alleged ambulance refusal didn’t sit well with him.
Cherry said a city would refuse to send an ambulance “only if there are circumstances where you cannot,” such as all of them being dispatched to other calls.
“There’s no jurisdictional lines when there’s a life in danger,” he added.
The reports, among about 550 pages obtained by the Quay County Sun in a public records request, do not address whether Hare’s life could have been saved if Santa Rosa had sent an ambulance.
Reports show Hare still was breathing when officers found him face up on the side of the frontage road. One report stated Hare had been lying near the road about an hour before police found him.
Garrett Nash, Tucumcari’s fire chief at the time, stated in an interview with state police that paramedics lost a pulse and that Hare stopped breathing shortly after they loaded him into an ambulance.
Three EMTs took turns giving CPR to Hare as he was rushed to Trigg Hospital, the records show.