Española Police officer Emily Montoya was fired Jan. 9 just two weeks after she bragged to the SUN that she gave an elderly man “a good Tony Lama kicking” after he damaged her property, according to Acting City Manager Veronica Albin.
Deputy Police Chief Larry Ham would not comment on the reasons for Montoya’s termination, except to say the article, in which Montoya also threatened to physically assault her neighbor, had nothing to do with it.
According to city documents, Montoya’s troubles began last summer just a few months after she was named “Officer of the Month.” In an October 2008 memo from Sgt. Christian Lopez to Ham, Lopez urged Montoya be “relieved of her duties” until she could be given a psychiatric evaluation and drug test because of: threatening behavior she exhibited toward fellow employees, complaints from the public and problems with her traffic citations.
Montoya, 47, of Abiquiú, is accused in the memo of starting an altercation Oct. 23 with evidence technician Christine Gerhmann. Montoya wanted the radar antenna in her patrol car moved to a different location because officer Gabe Gonzales had his moved, but she refused to fill out the required form or to assure Gerhmann the car would be ready on the arranged day, according to the memo.
“(Montoya) said, ‘Then you better make damn sure it’s here that day,’” Gerhmann wrote in the statement.
“‘I replied, ‘You need to get it from your house,’” Gerhmann wrote.
“(Montoya) said, ‘Next time I tell you to (expletive) do something you better do it, you’re not in charge here,’” according to Gerhmann’s statement.
Secretary Trinnie Velasquez overheard the last statement and told Lopez that Montoya was being “rude and insulting.” Sgt. Richard Gallegos, who also overheard the conversation, broke up the dispute.
“As you are well aware, this is not the first issue with officer Montoya attacking fellow employees verbally and in a rude and illicit manner,” Lopez wrote in his memo.
An altercation in August began in the lobby of the Police Department and continued in Ham’s office, after Montoya allegedly repeatedly refused to take a report regarding an incident that happened outside AutoZone. When Kevin Manzanares confronted a man who damaged his car and asked for his insurance information, the unidentified person began to strangle Manzanares in the presence of two witnesses. Dispatched to the scene, Montoya refused to take a report and advised Manzanares to leave the area.
Manzanares and the two witnesses came to the Police Station in a second attempt to make a report. Det. Bryan Martinez told Montoya to take it.
“Officer Montoya immediately began yelling at me and pointing her finger at me stating she would not take a report … it was a nonstop yelling session,” Martinez wrote in a statement. “Her yelling and unprofessionalism towards me has now made me feel like I must walk on eggshells around her and I feel that this could become somewhat of an officer safety issue down the road if not taken care of.”
Just two days before the confrontation with Gerhmann, State Police were called to Montoya’s house for the incident that ultimately caused her neighbor to file a restraining order against her, according to court documents. Carolyn McFarlan and her friend John Kitely claimed Montoya pushed and kicked them, respectively, after Kiteley admitted to damaging a light on Montoya’s property. In a statement given to police, McFarlan wrote that Montoya should be given psychological testing, and Kiteley claimed Montoya used “foul language with several ethnic references” while kicking him. State Police officer Gilbert Tafoya noted that McFarlan was “rude” and refused to be transported for medical treatment. Montoya never turned in her statement, and the report is open pending that information.
When interviewed by the SUN after the incident, Montoya bragged she had “kicked the (expletive)” out of Kiteley and would do the same to McFarlan if she ever approached her. Montoya filed a civil complaint Dec. 1 against McFarlan in Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court, demanding $1,500 to compensate her for the damage to her light and alleged theft of her “K-9 pet,” which she claims McFarlan removed from her property in October and surrendered to an animal shelter. This case has not been adjudicated.
Montoya’s termination is not subject to appeal because she was on probationary status, Albin said. Although she was hired Nov. 27, 2007, her one-year probation was extended before the year elapsed, Albin said.
This concludes the third of Montoya’s stints at the Department; the first was from 1997 to 1998 and the second from 1998 to 2001. At the time of the first resignation, Montoya was caring for her sick husband, and the second time she resigned to take a job with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department, according to her personnel file. After her second resignation, then-police chief Wayne Salazar rated her “above average,” noting, “she has a positive attitude and genuine loyalty to the police department.”
In April 2008, Montoya was named “Officer of the Month” and rewarded with radar in her patrol car — one of only two patrol cars to be equipped with it — after writing the most traffic citations in the Department. In Lopez’s memo, he notes that “numerous complaints about (Montoya’s) attitude and demeanor toward the Police Department staff and public” had been overlooked because of her high number of citations. Lopez also stated that many of the citations were dismissed by the court because of problems with them.
The Law Enforcement Academy board, which can revoke officers’ certification under certain circumstances, is “aware there’s a need to investigate” Montoya but hasn’t received the appropriate paperwork from Española Police Department, Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson said.
Montoya did not return a call for comment.