JAL, N.M. (AP) - A southeastern New Mexico officer was recently fired after authorities say he hid a video camera and released footage of his police chief having sex in the back of an ambulance, officials said.
City Manager Bob Gallagher announced on Thursday that Sgt. Joshua Terrell was fired for eight violations of the city’s personnel manual, the Hobbs News-Sun reports (https://goo.gl/010ndV). He called Terrell’s actions a “disgrace to the department and to our citizens.”
“I am saddened and extremely angry over these violations that were premeditated, carefully planned and deceitfully performed in order to disgrace, hurt and derail the chances of a candidate for public office,” Gallagher said in a release.
The firing comes after Jal Police Chief Larry Burns, a Republican who is seeking a magistrate judge seat, was suspended for two weeks in connection with the secret sex footage. Two television stations aired portions of a video of Burns having sex with a female companion inside a Jal ambulance parked where the city’s ambulances are kept.
No telephone number was listed for Terrell.
Gallagher said early on in his investigation into the matter that he felt the move was politically motivated and confirmed his belief in that motive Thursday.
“I don’t have any doubt from the information I have corroborated that this was done in a vicious manner to get the police chief fired and specifically, almost verbatim, ’I do not want him to be magistrate judge,’ ” Gallagher said.
Burns said will continue his run for a magistrate judge seat.
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Information from: Hobbs News-Sun, https://www.hobbsnews.com
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