A Chama man claims he was treated unfairly after he got in a wreck with a Dulce animal control officer.
Michael Moya, of Chama, said he should not have been given a citation Jan. 24 after he backed his truck out of his driveway on Capulin Road and was hit by an SUV driven by Angelo Rivas, an animal control officer with the Jicarilla Apache Tribal Police Department. Moya was taken to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque after the accident, and he said he had surgery on his spine last week.
After the accident Moya received a citation for failure to yield, State Police Public spokesman Eric Garcia said. Rivas was not given a ticket.
Moya said he thought Rivas was speeding when the accident occurred. But he said State Police Officer Lance Pepper, who responded to the 9:30 a.m. accident, did not thoroughly investigate the accident because Pepper is friends with Rivas.
“(Pepper) said they were not going to give (Rivas) any tickets and I said I didn’t know why not because they were hot-rodding down the road,” Moya said.
Moya said he is considering legal action because he doesn’t believe he should be responsible for paying his medical bills.
Rivas said he works with Pepper but said they are not close friends and he doubted he received any special treatment.
“I know (Pepper), but we’re not best of friends,” Rivas said. “I don’t call him on a daily basis or anything.”
Rivas said the cause of the accident was a lack of visibility on the road caused by several feet of snow, a problem also mentioned by Moya. Neither driver could see the other until it was too late, Rivas said. He said he didn’t know whether Moya should have been cited.
“It was an accident,” he said. “I can’t exactly say.”
Pepper did not return a call for comment.