Roswell Daily Record
Vol. 122, No. 193 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
INSIDE NEWS
LOS EBANOS, Texas (AP) — If Congress agrees on a comprehensive immigration reform bill, it will probably include a requirement to erect fencing that would wrap more of the nation’s nearly 2,000mile Southwest border in tall steel columns. But the mandate would essentially double down on a strategy that U.S. Customs and Border Protection isn’t even sure works. And the prospect of the ...
August 13, 2013
TUESDAY
www.rdrnews.com
Police custody death ruled homicide JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
DEBATE ON BORDER FENCE RENEWED
THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
The Of fice of Medical Investigation in Albuquerque released the autopsy report on Cody Towler, 34, Friday. Their final conclusions were that the manner of death was a homicide. The legal definition of homicide is death of a human being at the hands of another human being. Many use homicide meaning murder, but it could also include voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. Towler was pronounced dead on Feb. 5. According to the Roswell Police Department releases at the time, the public liaison offi-
cer reported an in-custody death after officers were dispatched to the 1600 block South Union Avenue around 2 a.m. for a disorderly subject call. The incident report states the officers made contact with Towler around 2:20 a.m. By 3 a.m. Towler was dead. RPD spokeswoman Sabrina Morales said that when officials arrived at the scene, Towler was beating on a trash can with a baton and resisted attempts to arrest him. “The officers managed to detain him and he collapsed,” said Morales. The autopsy lists under “How injuries occurred: Physical and electrical restraint while intoxicated” while the cause of death
was “excited delirium complicated by physical and electrical restraints.” Many experts question the diagnosis of excited delivery. As late as 2012, The St. Louis Law Journal states: “Currently, Excited Delirium Syndrome is not a diagnosis recognized by the American Medical Association or found in the leading diagnostic manuals.” The American Civil Liberties Union contends the diagnosis only appears in forensic examinations where the police are involved. The body was sent to the Office of Medical Investigators in Albuquerque for autopsy. It has taken eight months for the OMI to release its results. When asked about the delay, OMI
said they were waiting on the toxicology test results. However, the final toxicology report contained within the autopsy is dated Feb. 17, 2013. Standard procedures for investigation of an in-custody death requires a combined law enforcement taskforce to avoid bias. In Roswell, the taskforce included the New Mexico State Police, the Chaves County Sheriff’s Office and the RPD. At the time, both the CCSO and NMSP stated that the RPD was taking lead, and they would help if asked. According to the police, the officers involved in the incident were placed on paid administrative leave. The incident report lists them as Dylan
INSIDE
A water main break Monday flooded East 23rd Street from North Main Street to North Garden Avenue.
- PAGE B1
TODAY’S OBITUARIES • Rachel Friend • Joe David Grant • Christine Hughes • Harold H. Jones • Johnnie Lee Kermode Sr. • Robert Lee ‘Smitty’ Smith - PAGE A6
HIGH ...96˚ LOW ....71˚
TODAY’S FORECAST
CLASSIFIEDS..........B6 COMICS.................B4 ENTERTAINMENT.....A8 FINANCIAL .............B5 GENERAL ..............A2 HOROSCOPES ........A8 LOTTERIES ............A2 NATION .................A6 OPINION ................A4 SPORTS ................B1 WEATHER ..............A8
INDEX
See AUTOPSY, Page A3
JESSICA PALMER RECORD STAFF WRITER
SPORTS
PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Equipped with a two-shot lead at the turn, still carrying a few scars from his PGA Championship collapse two years ago, Jason Dufner never showed signs of cracking. No one expected anything else from a player whose popularity comes from his flat-line personality. He merely waved to the gallery when he shot 63 in the second round to tie a major championship record. He didn’t show much of a ...
The autopsy revealed “blunt force injuries includabrasions (skin ing scrapes) and contusions (bruises) of the face, right arm, left hand and legs. There was a small amount of bleeding around the brain and bleeding into the deep scalp. The top of the right shoulder had a patter ned contusion which corresponded to the top of the boots wor n by law enforcement. A total of four Taser prongs were identified at the time of autopsy.
Custody death prompts questions
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DUFNER’S FIRST MAJOR
Thomas, Jorge Orio-Jaime, J. Kelton and Anthony R. Ar mijo. The of ficers returned to duty within two days.
Jill McLaughlin Photo
East 23rd flooded by water main break JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Water flooded East 23rd Street Monday after a water main burst near the Christa-Lee Apartments. Cars and trucks cruised through the water from North Main Street to North Garden
Avenue starting at 3 p.m, which reached a depth of 18 inches or more in some areas, for nearly an hour until city crews were able to shut down the line. “Sometimes pipes get old and break,” said Paul Gomez, from the City of Roswell, who was called to dig through gravel to find the water valve.
A nearby New Mexico Gas Company employee who was in the area alerted the city to the water main break. Maintenance worker Bill Collins of the Christa-Lee Apartments said he suspected someone may have driven over a cast-iron cap that was located on top of the water main, causing the
messy situation. “There was a shut-off valve. I always worried about someone running over it,” Collins said, as he watched the incident unfold. Some 20 apartments could be without water, Collins said. A portion of the Otero Federal Credit Union’s parking lot was also
Sherrie Towler, mother of Cody Towler, is haunted by her experiences with the police following her son’s in-custody death. “In my mind, I see him every day lying there in the alley. Every day. I cannot get that image out of my mind.” Sherrie has her suspicions about the investigation. The night Cody died, she went out searching for her son because he was late coming home. “My mom called me and I went to the scene. I had a gut instinct when I saw a collection of cop cars. I had called him several times and never got an answer. ... When I went to the police station, they told us there had been a homicide and began asking me if Cody had any known enemies.” Sherrie wasn’t allowed to leave the RPD until 7 a.m. “The police were not releasing any information. I was not allowed to see my son, See QUESTIONS, Page A3
Biden considers 2016
WASHINGTON (AP) — Joe Biden may run for president in 2016, or he may not. But he wants you to know he could. Iowa. New Hampshire. South Carolina. Michigan. Three years out from the next presidential election, the vice president is polishing his connections and racking up favors in all the right states to ensure he stays part of the conversation, keeping his name near the top of a list of likely contenders even if the prime spot seems to have already been claimed by Hillary Rodham Clinton. Biden’s advisers and friends say his crowded schedule of campaign events to boost Democrats in key primary states reflects his role as vice president and a party leader, not some grand strategy to lay the groundwork for a presidential campaign he hasn’t yet decided to undertake. See BIDEN, Page A3
Palestinian joy, Israeli pain over inmate release
BRUKIN, West Bank (AP) — Mustafa al-Haj expected to die in an Israeli prison for killing an American-born settler hiking in the West Bank in 1989. Now lights decorate his home to celebrate the planned release of the 45-year-old and more than 100 other Palestinian convicts in a deal that revived Mideast peace talks. While the Palestinians are joyful, the decision to free the inmates has stirred anger in Israel where victims’ families say it is an insult to their loved ones. Israel published the names of 26 men, including al-Haj, to be freed before the first round of talks Wednesday. In all, 104 prisoners have been slated for release in four tranches over a period of nine months that the U.S. has set aside for negotiations. But their freedom is contingent on progress in See INMATE, Page A3
Jill McLaughlin Photo
Gateway Christian School's superintendent Rev. Rick Rapp, center, takes an honorary first scoop of dirt from a plot of land that will soon be the school's science classroom.
Gateway breaks ground on science lab JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Gateway Christian School held a groundbreaking ceremony on its planned state-of-the-art science lab Monday evening.
The new lab, expected to be completed in the next four to six months, will seat 24 students and have six lab stations, said school superintendent Rev. Rick Rapp. “It’s going to get a lot of use,” Rapp told the large
group of parents and children crowded around the fenced-off lot Monday. “It’s another dream come true. We are truly blessed.” The school owns 54 See NEW LAB, Page A3