On April 1, it was reported that the City of Albuquerque is paying out $2,5 million in a settlement to a family whose lives were forever changed when an officer shot their son leaving him with life-altering injuries. It all started with a 911 call when the parents pleaded for help as their son was going through a schizoaffective episode crisis. But it quickly got out of control when officers arrived on scene.
On June 4, 2020, Max Mitnik, then age is 26 years old, was living with his parents Wanda and Michael Mitnik in their home in the Tanoan gated community. Max Mitnik suffers from mental illness, he has been under psychiatric medical care for some time and was on medication. He has a history of mental health care at the University of New Mexico Mental Health Hospital. At the time of the incident, Max Mitnik had no criminal history, had no prior contacts with APD’s Crisis Intervention Unit.
On June 4, Mitnik had not been taking his medication and told his parents he was worried he would hurt them. The Mitnik’s call APD 911 and two APD Police Officers were dispatched to handle the call for service to deal with Max Mitnik who was having a severe psychotic episode. It was APD Officer Jose Ruiz who shot Mitnik in the head as Mitnik held a knife to his own neck but advanced forward despite warning from Officer Ruiz. Mitnik was transported to the University of New Mexico Hospital and underwent neurosurgery. He then spent two years doing physical therapy and rehabilitation. The shooting left Mitnik, now 31, largely paralyzed on his left side, and it has taken years for him to walk with the help of a cane.
An APD Internal Affairs investigation found the use of force by APD Officer Ruiz was “appropriate” when he shot Mitnik, but that his “lack of command and control” escalated the situation to where force was necessary. Office Ruiz is still employed with APD.
LAWSUITE FILED, CASE SETTLES
In 2022, Max Mitnik’s parents, on his behalf, sued the city and APD Officer Jose Ruiz, seeking damages and alleging the city negligently dispatched police to respond to a mental health crisis without assistance from a health care professional.
The city’s decision to settle the federal laws suite came mid-March when a stay on the lawsuit was placed after an appeal was filed on a qualified immunity ruling from the federal judge in the case.
The June 4 Mitnik APD police officer involved shooting predates the creation of the Albuquerque Community Safety Department (ACS) that is now dispatched to deal with calls relating to the mentally ill and the APD reforms under the Federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) mandating 271 reforms to deal with use of force and deadly force cases.
Private Attorney Ryan Villa, who represents the family, said that since the lawsuit was filed, Mitnik’s mother, his primary caretaker, has died. He also said the father retired to help care for Mitnik, who has made progress but will never have full use of his extremities.
Attorney Villa said this:
“[Max] can walk, but he can’t do some of the things he liked to do, like hiking in the mountains or playing basketball, skiing. … [His] left eye was damaged by the shooting, and he can no longer drive as a result. … Those things will never get any better.”
Max Mitnik’s father, Michael Mitnik, said the bullet “took away hope” of his son living a normal life. He has found medication to help stabilize his schizoaffective disorder, but the brain injury has left him reliant on others. Michael Mitnik said this:
“His life and my life have totally changed since this happened. [What happened to my son broke my wife’s heart] both physically and emotionally.”
Michael Mitnik said the settlement from the city was “hopefully some admission that they have to do better.” He said he is rooting for the Albuquerque Community Safety Department to prevent similar tragedies, but when his son had a more recent crisis, police showed up instead. Michael Mitnik added, “Those police, actually, they did good, those particular officers.”
Private Attorney Ryan Villa said this about the settlement:
“I think we were pleased that the city was willing to come to the table and negotiate.”
The city issued the following statement on the settlement:
“The City continues to improve our emergency response, adding resources for the Community Safety department, which sends trained behavioral health responders to calls in our community 24/7.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inIGOYGQ8wM
ALBUQUERQUE COMMUNITY SAFETY DEPARTMENT REACHES MILESTONE
Within a few months following the shooting of Max Mitnik, Mayor Tim Keller announced the creation of the Albuquerque Community Safety Department (ACS), a project his office had been working on for some months prior to the Mitnick shooting. The Albuquerque Community Safety Department has social workers, housing and homelessness specialists and violence prevention and diversion program experts who are dispatched to homelessness and “down-and-out” calls as well as other behavioral health crises calls that were normally handled by APD. The ACS connects people in need with services to help address any underlying issues. The intent is to free up the first responders who typically have to deal with down-and-out and behavioral health calls. The ACS has now been operational for the last 4 years.
On April 2, 2025, ACS announced it had reached the milestone of taking 100,000 calls for service since opening in 2021. In recent years, ACS has gone from handling 900 calls a month to handling 3,000 a month, becoming a 24/7 service and opening a standalone headquarters in 2024. Officials believe the surge is partly due to growing awareness of the department’s services and the diminishing stigma surrounding mental health support.
Despite thousands of calls being rerouted to ACS during that time, fatal confrontations between officers and those in crisis have continued. In recent years, APD officers have shot and killed several people, a fair number of whom were armed, during a behavioral health crisis. In February, an ACS worker called 911 after not being able to make contact with a man who was threatening suicide. When officers showed up, the man pointed an unloaded handgun at them and was fatally shot, according to police.
John Dodd, the clinical supervisor for ACS, explained that many individuals contacting their team are at a breaking point, unsure where to turn for help. He emphasized the department’s holistic and empathetic approach, which connects individuals to essential resources such as counseling, therapy, and psychiatric care. In response to this increased demand, ACS plans to hire more responders and has extended its training program from six weeks to three months. This adjustment ensures that responders are more experienced before engaging with individuals in crisis.
Links to relied upon or quoted news sources are here:
https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-community-safety-seeing-increased-calls/64364711
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The June 4, 2020 police officer involved shooting of Max Mitnick has turned out to be a major milestone on how the city would deal with calls for service involving the mentally ill. Some would say the shooting was in fact a contributing factor for the creation of the Albuquerque Community Safety Department (ACS) and the city’s efforts to cease relying on APD to handle calls for service to deal with people suffering from mental illness crisis. For that reason, review of the Max Mitnick shooting by APD is in order.
MAX MITNICK CALL FOR SERVICE
It was on June 4, 2020, at 1:56 p.m., that APD received a 911 call from Michael Mitnik who said his son, later identified as Max Mitnik, was diagnosed as having a mental illness, and wanted to be transported to the hospital. Michael Mitnik said his son expressed fear that he would “hurt his parents” APD Officers received additional information that Max had mental health episodes in the past and had “cut himself” representing a danger to himself and others.
Officers learned that Max Mitnik was diagnosed as having schizoaffective disorder and had stopped taking his medication the week this incident occurred. Max Mitnik had not slept in two days. Officers contacted Max and his father in the front yard and explained they could take him to the University of New Mexico Hospital for mental health care or another hospital. Max was asked which hospital he preferred and was advised that it was his choice.
APD Officers Jose Ruiz and a female officer were dispatched to the seen. Upon arrival, Officer Jose Ruiz turned on his lapel camera and a 26 minute 38 second video was recorded. On Friday, July 10, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) released the entire lapel camera video to the news media. A YOUTUBE link to the lapel camera recording can be viewed here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=a0mTXSwtafs&feature=emb_title
EDITOR’S CAUTIONARY NOTE: THE VIDEO IS VERY GRAPHIC, DIFFICULT TO WATCH AND UPSETTING IN THAT IT RECORDS AN ACTUAL SHOOTING. FOR THESE REASONS THE FOLLOWING SUMMARY IS OFFERED FOR READERS:
The first few minutes of the lapel camera video shows two APD police officers talking first with Michael Mitnik, the father, over a fence gate. Soon Max Mitnik walks out to talk with the two police officers. Michael Mitnik opens the gate, and a female Police Officer talks with Max Mitnik. She attempts to reason with Max to allow her to put handcuffs on him in order to follow APD procedures to take him to the hospital for mental health care.
The officers explain to Max he will have to wait at least an hour in the car before he can be admitted because of a backlog at the hospital. The mother Wanda Mitnik soon joins her husband outside talking with the officers. The officers emphasize to Max he was not under arrest nor in custody. Soon Max becomes upset and wants the handcuffs off and they are taken off. After the handcuffs are taken off, Max Mitnik begins to pace in front of the house, down the street and then back appearing and acting agitated.
The video reflects the fact that the father and the officers continually talked with Max Mitnik as he tried to decide whether he wanted to go with them or be taken to the hospital by his parents. The officers again emphasize to Max that he is an adult, that he was not accused of any crime, and they cannot force him to go with them to the hospital and he could go with his parents.
Max Mitnik finally agrees for a second time to go to the hospital with APD, he is again handcuffed but with his hands in front of him. The officers begin to walk Max to marked SUV unit. Max Mitnik again changes his mind as he is being escorted to the APD unit, he turns suddenly and starts to walk towards his parents and the officers ask him what’s wrong.
At this point, Michael Mitnik and Officer Jose Ruiz again try to reason with Max to go to the hospital. Michael Mitnik offers to ride with Max in the police car while Wanda Mitnik follows in the family car. The father tells Max if he does not go, they will only wind up calling APD again. Max says “What happens if I get violent there?… at the hospital.” Officer Ruiz then tells Max that the hospital has its own security. Max tells them he does not want to go the hospital and asks that the handcuffs be removed and the cuffs are removed once again.
Once the handcuffs are removed, Max Mitnik walks back to the house and goes inside the home. He is not followed by the APD Officers who lose sight of him. This turned out to be a major stake. The officers call APD dispatch and request that a Mobile Crisis Team (CIT) unit be dispatched. CIT Units are made up of a behavioral health clinician and a police officer who responds to mental health calls.
Before the Mobile Crisis Team (CIT) has a chance to be dispatched and arrive, Wanda Mitnik is heard screaming inside the house. Officer Ruiz runs inside, guided by Max Mitnik’s father to a bathroom where Max Mitnik has locked himself inside. Wanda Mitnik shows up with a key to open the bathroom and she said her son was inside the bathroom and was stabbing himself in the neck.
The shooting occurs at 15 minutes and 1 second into the lapel camera video when Officer Ruiz has Wanda Mitnik unlock the bathroom door, the door slowly opens to the dark bathroom and seconds later, Max Mitnik emerges from the bathroom, he is bleeding from the neck and starts to walk slowly towards Officer Ruiz and says calmly, but as if begging, in a low tone of voice:
“I’m going to suffer a lot if I don’t kill myself, will you please kill me, sir. Kill me.”
The video shows Max Mitnik approaching Officer Ruiz with something in his hand, which is later identified as a paring knife. Two shots are fired by Officer Ruiz. One shot hits Max Mitnik in the hip and the other shot hits him in the head and Max Mitnik falls to the floor unconscious.
Both Wanda and Michael Mitnik reacted in shock to the shooting of their son they had just witnessed.
On the lapel camera video Wanda Mitnik says to Officer Ruiz before going to the aide of her son to try to revive him and stop the bleeding:
“Did you really? Did you really? … Why did you do that?”
The video reflects that Officer Ruiz bends down appearing to pick up something later identified as the paring knife. As soon as Wanda Mitnik goes into the bedroom to help her son, you can hear officer Ruiz call in “shots fired” and he begins to heavily pant as if emotionally upset, start walking down a hallway panting and turning back around after regaining his composure.
Michael Mitnik, sitting down in obvious grief watching his wife and a female police officer giving Max aide had the following exchange with Officer Ruiz:
Michael Mitnik: “We asked for help. … Where did you shoot him? … back of head?
Officer Ruiz: “… No, he was coming toward me, so I don’t think in back of the head.”
Michaele Mitnik: “Why did you do that? … He asked you to kill him.”
Paramedics arrived and Max Mitnik was taken to the emergency room. Remarkably Max Mitnik survived the close-range shooting.
Media reports reflect that Max Mitnik was critically injured and spent a month at the hospital before returning home.
The link to review the APD Release of Details of the shooting is here:
Click to access ois-media-briefing-news-release-10jul2020.pdf
Links to relied upon or quoted news coverage is here:
https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/apd-releases-video-of-police-shooting-in-tanoan/5788708/
https://www.abqjournal.com/1474759/video-shows-tanoan-shooting-during-mental-health-call.html
https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/police-involved-in-shooting-in-northeast-albuquerque/
COMPLICATING FACTORS
There were two police officers initially dispatched to the Mitnik residence on June 4 and who interacted with Max Mitnik. Each officer placed handcuffs on him on two separate times as they explained to him APD’s Standard Operating Procedures and why the handcuffs were needed as they attempted to reason with him to allow them to take him to the hospital.
What really complicates the Max Mitnik shooting case is the fact the call out to the Mitnik residence was not to make an arrest or to investigate a crime. The call out was a “welfare check” to assist a mother and father dealing with a son who was having a psychotic episode, a son who was threatening to get violent and who wanted to go to the hospital. The police could not force Max to go to the hospital, he had not committed any crime nor did they have probable cause to arrest him for a crime. The only thing the officers could do was attempt to reason with him.
Demanding that Max wear handcuffs was to conform with APD Standard Operating Procedures. Any reasonable lay person would no doubt ask
“Was it necessary to cuff Max if he was just being transported to the hospital?” The answer is YES because there was no guarantee Max would NOT become resistant and act out once inside the police vehicle. The biggest mistake was the officers and his parents did not attempt to reason with him not to go back into the house. The officers did attempt to reason with Max and call for the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). The officers lost control of the scene when they allowed Max to go back into the home and allowing Max to escalate the interactions with the police.
What happened on June 4 reflects the “real world” of policing. It became “a no-win situation” for the police officers who were conducting a “welfare check call” to provide assistance. It became a total tragedy for a family who reach out to APD for help. No crime was reported nor investigated. The family was asking for help, and it escalated to a police officer shooting. The two Police Officers were clearly acting courteous at first, but once they allowed Max Mitnik out of their site and allowed him to go back into the home, they lost complete control of the scene and endangered themselves and the Mitniks as well. The “no win situation” was that had the officers been far more aggressive with Max Mitnik and used force at any level where no arrest was being made they would have been condemned of escalating the situation contributing to the shooting.
APD RANKED #1 IN CIVILIAN KILLINGS OUT OF THE 50 LARGEST CITY POLICE DEPARTMENTS IN THE COUNTRY
On April 10, 2024 the on line news publication Searchlight New Mexico published a remarkable story researched and written by its staff reporter Josh Bowling. The article is entitled “Can the Albuquerque Police Department ever be reformed?” The article goes into great detail explaining the Court Approved Settlement Agreement, what has been done to reform APD and the role of the Federal Monitor. The article also mentions the Max Metnick shooting. The link to read the full, unedited Searchlight New Mexico article with photos and graphs is here:
The Search Light New Mexico article reported that in 2014, the Albuquerque Police Department killed 10.6 people per million residents, more than any other sizable police department in the nation, according to data tracked by the national nonprofit Mapping Police Violence.
Following are the relevant excerpts from the Search Light New Mexico article
In 2022, the department set a record for police shootings with 18, 10 of which were fatal. That year, a Searchlight analysis found, only the police departments in Los Angeles, New York and Houston killed more people than APD.
Law enforcement officials, including police leaders and district attorneys, say such figures are nuanced. They point to the acute dearth of mental health resources in New Mexico and, anecdotally, stories of people who draw guns on police officers as explanations for why the problem of police violence is so outsized locally.”
…
“In the past four years, Albuquerque police repeatedly shot people who were suffering visible mental health crises. They shot 26-year-old Max Mitnik in the head during a “schizoaffective episode” in which he asked officers to fire their weapons at him; they shot and killed 52-year-old Valente Acosta-Bustillos who swung a shovel at officers and told them to shoot him; they shot and killed 33-year-old Collin Neztsosie while he was on his cell phone, pleading for help with a 911 dispatcher.
These grim numbers have led reform advocates, critics and law enforcement leaders themselves to question what it means to be “in compliance.”
“You can improve things on paper or comply with the terms of a consent decree and still have these things happening. … Albuquerque is a prime place to be asking the questions…about what impact consent decrees have. The city should be ground zero for the national conversation on police reform” said UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz, author of the 2023 book “Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable.”
This is not to say that the consent decree has been without merit. The 2014 Court-Approved Settlement Agreement between the DOJ and Albuquerque laid out nearly 300 mandated reforms. Since its launch, APD has fulfilled hundreds of reform requirements, including overhauling scores of policies and training procedures.”
The Search Light New Mexico article contains a horizontal graph listing the 50 largest cities in the United States. According to the graph, among the 50 largest cities, Albuquerque Police killed people at the highest rate than all the other city police departments in 2023 at the rate of 10.6 per 1 Million population. It is worth comparing Albuquerque’s 10.6 kill rate to the largest cities in the surrounding border states of Texas, Colorado, Arizona and also including Oklahoma and Nevada:
- Albuquerque, NM: 10.6
- San Antonio, Texas: 9.8
- Phoenix, Arizona: 8.7
- Austin, Texas: 7.3
- Denver, Colorado: 5.6
- Tucson, Arizona: 5.5
- Fort Worth, Texas: 5.4
- Houston, Texas: 5.2
- Colorado Springs, Colorado: 4.2
- Dallas, Texas: 3.1
- El Paso, Texas: 2.9
- Las Vegas, Nevada: 2.6
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: 2.0
REVISITING THE DOJ USE OF FORCE AND DEADLY FORCE INVESTIGATION Of APD
On April 10, 2014, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Rights Division, submitted a scathing 46-page investigation report on an 18-month civil rights investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). The investigation was conducted jointly by the DOJ’s Washington Office Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico.
You can read the entire report here.
https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/04/10/apd_findings_4-10-14.pdf
The DOJ investigation included a comprehensive review of APD’s operations and the City’s oversight systems of APD. The DOJ investigation “determined that structural and systemic deficiencies — including insufficient oversight, inadequate training, and ineffective policies — contribute to the use of unreasonable force.” Based on the investigation and the review of excessive use of force and deadly force cases, the DOJ found “reasonable cause to believe that APD engage[d] in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force, including deadly force, in violation of the Fourth Amendment … . and [the] investigation included a comprehensive review of APD’s operations and the City’s oversight systems.”
What differentiates the DOJ’s investigation of APD from the other federal investigations of police departments and consent decrees is that the other consent decrees involve in one form or another the finding of “racial profiling” and use of excessive force or deadly force against minorities. The DOJ’s finding of a “culture of aggression” within APD dealt with APD’s interactions and responses to suspects that were mentally ill and that were having psychotic episodes.
A significant number of the APD “use of force cases” reviewed involved persons suffering from acute mental illness and who were in crisis. The investigation found APD’s policies, training, and supervision were insufficient to ensure that officers encountering people with mental illness or in distress do so in a manner that respected their rights and in a manner that was safe for all involved
The investigative report found a pattern or practice of use of “deadly force” or “excessive use of force”. The DOJ reviewed all fatal shootings by officers between 2009 and 2012 and found that officers were not justified under federal law in using deadly force in the majority of those incidents. Albuquerque police officers too often used deadly force in an unconstitutional manner in their use of firearms. Officers used deadly force against people who posed a minimal threat, including individuals who posed a threat only to themselves or who were unarmed. Officers also used deadly force in situations where the conduct of the officers heightened the danger and contributed to the need to use force.
The lapel camera video involving the Max Mitnick shooting shows the difficulty it is for trained police officers to implement use of force and deadly force written policy and apply those policies with real life events in police work. Much of police work when police are engaging with a criminal offender, especially when they are involved in the immediate commission of a crime or a fleeing suspect, is reactionary. Being reactionary during an incident, the time to make a decision to use force or deadly force, and to what extent, is literally one or two seconds. Such was the incident with Max Mitnik.
FINAL COMMENTARY
The lapel video of the Tanoan shooting of Max Mitnik was no doubt reviewed over and over again and again by not only by APD Internal Affairs Unit, but the Force Investigation Division, the Force Review Board and the Federal Court Approved Monitor overseeing APD. It is likely the lapel camera video will also wind up being used at the APD academy for training purposes.
The Tanoan lapel camera video is a case study of the “heartbeat” decisions that police officers are required to make, especially when dealing with the mentally ill. When you review the video, no one can say with absolute certainty what was going through the mind of Officer Ruiz, what extent he felt his life was in danger and why he decided to fire his gun, except for Officer Ruiz himself.
The most important factor to consider in deciding if the use of deadly force was legally justified is the extent of a threat faced by an officer using the force or the threat to others at the scene. Ultimately, APD Internal Affairs decided APD Police Officer Ruiz acted in a way that an “objectively reasonable” officer would have acted in the same circumstances. That is the rub when deciding to discipline or prosecute any police officer for shooting anyone. APD Internal Affairs investigation found the use of force by APD Officer Ruiz was appropriate when he shot Max Mitnik, but that his “lack of command and control” escalated the situation to where force was necessary.
Links to related blog articles are here: