Albuquerque Police FAIL to Search Handcuffed Suspect Again!!!

On December 31st, 2024, the Albuquerque Police Department apprehended a suspect near Carlisle Blvd. and Crest Ave. The suspect had resisted officers and was eventually taken into custody. As a precaution officers called Albuquerque Fire Rescue to have the suspect checked out for some sort of “incarceritis”. We observed on scene that some of the officers involved in this arrest were the same ones from the controversial shooting of a handcuffed suspect at the Tewa Motor Lodge a couple months ago.

It appeared that all of the officers were back to work in the same area command and shift they were assigned to before the October 18th, 2024 shooting.

While we were on scene, we observed AFR checking vitals for the “sick” suspect as he was handcuffed in the back of a police unit. APD officer Precious Cadena was on scene and has been the focus of the most recent Tewa Lodge shooting after she didn’t properly search a suspect. That suspect hid a gun in the back of his waistband in October 2024. Officers on that situation shot the man dead after he announced he had a gun and reached for it behind his back.

During the December 31st, 2024 arrest, Cadena is seen walking up to the patrol car where the suspect was at and she states:

“He hasn’t been patted.”

Cadena then went on to tell other officers on scene that his Miranda Rights were not read. After AFR cleared the man, two male APD officers took the handcuffed suspect out of the patrol car and fully searched him. The officers then removed property from the suspects pockets and off his person. Officers could be seen putting all of the items in a property bag.

Through booking information and a criminal complaint, the suspect was identified as 22-year-old Phil Jay Garcia of Albuquerque. He was charged receiving and transferring of a stolen vehicle and resisting and evading police. APD officers observed him with a stolen vehicle in a parking lot and they tried to apprehend him. He ran from officers and resisted them. He had felony warrants from previous cases relating to drugs and burglary.