Police officer visited Hooters strip club and sexy Chinese massage parlour after shooting dead 19-year-old woman because he wanted to ‘decompress’
Jeremy Dear killed suspected car thief Mary Hawkes, 19, during a chase on foot
A POLICE officer who shot and killed a 19-year-old girl went for an afternoon at Hooters and a Chinese massage just hours after the fatal chase.
Jeremy Dear killed suspected teenage car thief Mary Hawkes during a chase on foot after claiming she pointed a gun at him.
But just two days after killing the 19-year-old, the Alberquerque cop and his "buddy officer" visited the bar chain - famous for its scantily-clad waitresses - and a "hole-in-the-wall" massage parlour.
The details have emerged as a part of lawsuit launched by Hawkes' family against the city in New Mexico.
Miss Hawkes's mother told the she was disgusted by the behaviour of the officers just hours after her daughter was killed on April 21, 2014.
Maryalice Hawkes said: "We pray for and believe in the good officers, but we feel there are still some officers on the department that are morally bankrupt.
"It was just like (the officers) have no respect for life in general."
The attorney representing the Hawkes family said: 'To take the life of a 19-year-old girl and then go get a Chinese massage and go to Hooters, that’s hinged with real misogyny and a real disrespect to women."
Dear's body camera was not on during the killing and footage from other officer's cameras does not show a clear image of how the chase unfolded.
The duo were on a mandated holiday to "decompress" after the shooting.
Officers are reimbursed by up to $500 by the police union to use for vacations and other relaxing activities after shootings.
Dear was later fired for repeated failure to turn on his lapel camera in a variety of incidents, including the Hawkes shooting.
He appealed and won reinstatement but the city appealed to District Court.
He is not working as an APD officer while the city’s appeal is pending, and the District Attorney’s Office has not decided whether to file criminal charges against him in the Hawkes shooting case.
The family has also reportedly filed an individual lawsuit against Dear, reports
Officer Sonny Molina said in a deposition that two days after the incident, he took Dear out for a dayto keep his mind off the shooting.
The incident came less than two weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice accused APD of having a “culture of aggression” and a pattern of violating people’s rights through the excessive use of force," reports the .
The next day, Molina and his wife met Dear and his girlfriend in Santa Fe. Dear was there for a seminar for officers who have been involved in shootings and their spouses.
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Molina and Dear went to Hooters and got massages in Albuquerque the next day, according to depositions in the case.
“I took him to go – you know, help keep his mind off of everything, so we went to go eat and then we went for a massage after,” Molina said, according to a deposition transcript
Shaun Willoughby, president of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, said the psychological seminar in Santa Fe was scheduled in advance for officers who have been involved in shootings and their families.
“These officers are not trained assassins or ninjas; these incidents weigh heavy in the hearts of officers and their families,” Willoughby said.
But Albuquerque attorney Shannon Kennedy, who represents the Hawkes family, said the officers’ actions reflect cultural problems within the department.
“To take the life of a 19-year-old girl and then go get a Chinese massage and go to Hooters, that’s hinged with real misogyny and a real disrespect to women,” Kennedy said in an interview. “I think it’s a reflection of a department that is morally bankrupt.”
Tom Grover, Dear’s attorney and a former APD officer, said his client was just moving on from a stressful shooting by going out with his friend. He said officers don’t celebrate police shootings.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a case of spiking the football by officers,” he said.
Dear, who joined the department in 2007, is scheduled to give a deposition in the case next month.
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