The attorney for the three men who were accused of sexually assaulting a former UNM student in 2014 before charges were dropped, has filed a second lawsuit, this time against specific UNMPD officers, accusing them of civil rights violations during the original investigation.
Earlier this year, the three men filed a lawsuit against the University saying its investigation of the 2014 allegations was flawed.
“These are the people that are supposed to be keeping them safe,” said George Bleus, the attorney for the three men. “These are the people that are charged with investigations, and to literally be the purveyor of right and wrong. How can that be the case if you’re acting wrong to begin with? That’s outrageous.”
The plaintiffs in the suit are Crusoe Gongbay, Ryan Ruff and SaQwan Edwards. Gongbay and Edwards are former UNM students who played football for the University, while Ruff is a former CNM student.
The defendants in the lawsuit include UNMPD Police Chief Kevin McCabe and Officers Tim Stump, Guadalupe Guevara, Trace Peck and DJ Romero, among others.
MORE: New evidence suggests UNMPD misconduct in 2014 case involving former UNM football players
The civil rights complaint alleges that UNMPD and UNM, individually and in concert, “knowingly, willfully and intentionally attempted to facilitate," the indictment and convictions for sexual assault and kidnapping charges despite UNMPD’s “knowledge of the plaintiffs’ actual innocence.”
“This is about the truth, it’s about justice,” Bleus said.
The lawsuit states the intended goal of the conspiracy was to acquire “peace of mind” for UNM and to instill public confidence in UNMPD.
“The allegations brought forth by a white female against three black men immediately led UNMPD investigators to believe that this was the veritable ‘slam dunk’ case they were looking for,” the lawsuit states.
Bleus said he also believes much of the actions of UNMPD were racially motivated.
“It’s not a civil rights complaint of convenience,” he said. “There was both racial bias here, and personal gain, as articulated throughout this complaint.”
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The actions of UNMPD were “intentional, deliberately indifferent and knowingly discriminatory,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit singles out the actions of Peck and Guevara, stating the officers were so motivated to achieve “public acclaim,” that they encouraged and directed other officers to engage in the “same or similar conduct.”
“They did things, which have hurt these guys,” Bleus said. “Whether you hear dismissed, exonerated, not guilty — it doesn’t matter. People have made up their minds a long time ago that these guys were guilty based on the intensive and overwhelming media campaign that was started by UNMPD.”
The lawsuit states that, because of UNMPD’s actions, the three men have suffered “substantial” economic, emotional and physical harm, in addition to “irreparable” harm to their reputations and dignity.
UNMPD declined to comment due to the fact that litigation is still pending.
Bleus said regardless of the lawsuit, for his clients, much of the damage has already been done.
“This gray cloud, this dark word: rapist. It hangs over your head, it follows you forever. Can money erase that?” he said.
UNMPD does not shoulder all the responsibility, however, Bleus said.
“You’ve got to remember UNMPD is the investigative arm of the University,” he said. “UNM is not without blame here. UNM is with great blame, because they are charged with the duty to oversee its investigative arm. These are their employees.”
Dianne Anderson, director of media relations at UNM, said the University intends to “vigorously” defend the lawsuit.
“We stand by our UNM Police Department and its investigation," she said.
Anderson said that Guevara and Peck were disciplined back in April 2015.
“Following an internal investigation in April 2015 of a recorded conversation between two officers, an oral warning was given in accordance with progressive disciplinary procedures under UNM’s policy on performance management," Anderson said.
She added that the disciplinary action against the two officers was separate and unrelated to the lawsuit.
Matthew Reisen is the news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @MrMojoReisen.
