The family of a man fatally shot in New Mexico by police officers responding to the wrong house sued the department for wrongful death and other claims in federal court, according to a complaint filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court of New Mexico.

Robert Dotson, 52, was shot and killed in the doorway of his house in Farmington after local police officers opened fire after they said they saw he had a gun.

Police knocked on Dotson’s door at 11:30 p.m. on April 5, according to the complaint filed in court. Dotson grabbed his gun from the top of the refrigerator and went to open the front door. The complaint says “police vehicles were parked down the street and did not have their lights on.”

Three officers standing outside the door immediately opened fire, according to the complaint. Dotson was hit by 12 bullets. His wife, Kimberly, wearing just her robe, came down the stairs to find out what happened, the complaint says, and the officers fired an additional 19 bullets at her but missed.

New Mexico State Police issued a statement saying that Farmington police were responding to a domestic violence call but went to the wrong address.

  • Wahots@pawb.social
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    1 year ago

    Not having police means you get strongman groups that fill in as the security detail against getting raped and all that nonsense that humans do to each other. In short, you get the Taliban. And become Afghanistan.

    Or Yemen, where everyone just has guns and everything goes to the dogs.

      • Wahots@pawb.social
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        1 year ago

        Oops, I’m an idiot. I thought the commenter above wanted all cops to have insurance, which no one would give them, so we’d live in a society without any form of law enforcement. Perhaps it’s time for bed.

        • spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          IMO most police are insurable, but if all police are uninsurable because they randomly Derek Chauvin people, then maybe we do need a completely different system of law enforcement.

    • wahming@monyet.cc
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      1 year ago

      Or Yemen America, where everyone just has guns and everything goes to the dogs.

      FTFY