10th Circuit tests police immunity in shooting death of elderly woman in New Mexico

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (CN) — Questions about the importance of perception were central Wednesday morning as the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments regarding the fatal shooting of a 75-year-old woman with dementia and what leeway should be given to police officers under qualified immunity.

On April 16, 2022, Las Cruces Police Department Officer Jared Cosper was the first officer on the scene responding to a 911 call made by Amelia Baca’s daughter, who stated that her mother had dementia and was armed with knives and threatening to kill her.

The police department released body camera footage that shows Cosper arriving and ushering two women out of the home, one of whom told him, “Please be very careful with her.” The video shows Baca holding a pair of large kitchen knives and Cosper drawing his sidearm and pointing it at Baca, yelling for her to set down the knives. At one point Baca passes both knives to one hand, speaking an apparent answer to the officer, though what she says is inaudible over shouting by the officer and the two women standing behind him on the porch.

Less than 40 seconds into the encounter, Baca steps toward the officer while still holding the knives in her hand, pointed toward the ground. Cosper fires two shots and Baca falls out of frame. Cosper calls for another officer to pull Baca’s body out of the doorway so that Cosper can search the house.

Baca’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in July 2022. In September 2023, U.S. District Judge Robert C. Brack found that because Cosper’s version of the events leading up to the shooting could not be factually disputed, and because Cosper was under the genuine impression, whether right or wrong, that Baca posed a credible threat to Cosper and others, summary judgment under qualified immunity was appropriate.

The family filed a notice of intent to appeal within 10 days of the ruling.

Central to Wednesday’s arguments was the body camera footage and how the events shown in it are interpreted.

In the original complaint, Baca’s family holds that when Cosper pointed downward and shouted to put the knife down, Baca interpreted the gesture as a command to come closer, and stepped forward in an attempt to comply. The officer’s answer indicates a different read on the situation: He viewed Baca’s sudden advance as a threat.

Similarly, the family says that Baca appears confused and disoriented in the footage, while to Cosper Baca appeared not confused but rather upset at being ordered to put down the knives.

Even Baca’s granddaughter’s request to “please be very careful with [Baca]” is open to interpretation, with the family viewing it as a plea for gentleness and understanding, while Cosper says he took it as a warning that Baca was dangerous.

The family’s lawyer, Eric Loman of Jackson Loman Stanford Downey & Stevens-Block in Albuquerque, New Mexico, argued that Cosper’s actions violated the 4th Amendment by unreasonably escalating the situation and ignoring Baca’s mental state. “The video in this case speaks for itself. And what it depicts is Amelia Baca, this frail 75-year-old woman, clearly bewildered, confused.” Loman went on to present the narrative of a woman experiencing a mental health crisis, unable to understand why a police officer was pointing a handgun at her or what instructions Cosper was giving her.

When U.S. Circuit Judge Allison H. Eid, a Donald Trump appointee, asked Loman what the officer should have done in the situation, the attorney offered that Cosper should have inquired about the situation, pointing out that the situation was calm when Cosper first arrived on the scene and there was an opportunity to speak to the family members and gain an understanding of the circumstances. Instead, Loman argued, Cosper escalated the situation.

Cosper’s attorney, Philomena Hausler of Robles, Rael & Anaya in Albuquerque, warned against Monday morning quarterbacking the situation.

“The officer had to make a decision in a split second,” she reminded the panel, pointing out that the last update Cosper had received from emergency dispatch was that the caller had stopped responding and the dispatcher could only hear a child crying in the background.

But the question arose whether Cosper could rationally believe that he was in danger.

U.S. Circuit Judge Gregory A. Phillips, a Barack Obama appointee, stated his skepticism.

“That little old lady, holding those knives down, was not a danger to a large officer … she wasn’t doing anything to show she was going to attack him,” the judge said.

In response, Hausler reiterated that while Baca did not make an aggressive motion with the weapon, she still was armed with two knives and approaching the officer, despite clear and repeated orders to drop the knives.

Hauser brought the question back to the primary point of the qualified immunity ruling: “If the officer was mistaken about her intent, was his mistake a reasonable one?”

In a short rebuttal, Loman addressed the same point from the opposite side.

“Qualified immunity gives a lot of leeway to officers, as it should because they often find themselves walking into very chaotic situations. But this is not one of those," Loman said. “He created the chaos.”

U.S. Circuit Judge Harris L. Hartz, a George W. Bush appointee, rounded out Wednesday’s panel. The judges adjourned the hearing without indicating how they would rule.