food. Next, Oprah.
A number of lawmen turn in their notices, leaving a New Mexico county with just
one deputy tonight in a target seven investigation evidence of falsified
documents, forged signatures and a possible cover up by the state Highway
Department. I'm David Quinlan. That story coming up next. Severe weather
continues to rumble across New Mexico tonight. Lightning streaks across the
sky over Torrance County. Earlier today, pounding rain flooded streets in
northeastern Albuquerque. There was also hail for a while, which had drivers
struggling to get through all that rain. Good evening, New Mexico. I'm Diane
Anderson and I'm Doug Fernandez. The rain quickly filled Albuquerque's Arroyo's
sweeping away a man who was in the Honda Royal. Two firefighters also ended
up in the water as they tried to rescue that man. Those firefighters first
spotted 44 year old Robert Stevenson at Morningside, so they repositioned
themselves at the North diversion channel at Comanche near Panamerican. As
they ran along the Arroyo, the firefighters went in floating along with
Stevenson until they were eventually pulled out. Kate Godwin spoke with
those rescuers. She joins us now live with their story. Kate, Robert Stevenson
climbed into the Arroyo at Eubank and Lomas. He was trying to get out of the
rain, but he ended up nearly losing his life even as two firefighters risk
theirs to save his.
We knew that our brothers were gonna get us out. It was just a matter of when.
And it took those firefighting brothers several attempts to pull all three
people out of the water. Rescuers J. P. For debt and Vic Padilla first spotted
the man in the Arroyo at Morningside. As we're gonna have a truck, we actually
saw the individual flow underneath us under the bridge. And that man was
moving fast. The rough water now nearly four ft deep. I was on the other side
and I seen his head bobbing up and down. He was fighting, carried him more than
30 miles an hour down the Hon Arroyo and into the North Diversion Channel.
Padilla says Albuquerque police tried to form a human chain to get him out. It
failed. That's when the two firefighters reached out a hand. We're able to get
a hold of him. My partner had a hold of me and we knew we were going in. That's
scary. This is just our job and some would do it again. Despite the danger,
they survived. Do it again. If the time comes, rescuers finally pulled all
three men onto the bank of the Arroyo. The man in pain but not severely injured
his rescuers a little banged up but otherwise okay. My brothers in the
fire department. They didn't fail us. They never will.
Both of the firefighters were wearing life vests and helmets when they went
into the Arroyo. They say that equipment along with training helped them all get
out safely. Dan and one more reminder. Firefighters say anytime you see dark
clouds and you're near an Arroyo, get out as fast as you can. They say the
best thing you can do if you are caught in an Arroyo during a downpour is to
lie on your back and float down until help arrives. And that way, whether in
New Mexico is far from over here. Chief meteorologist Joe Diaz with the very
latest information. Joe, we still have flash flood warning in effect throughout
Roosevelt County until 11 o'clock and a new one issued until 12 45 for Lee
County. We have this front dropping down. It's converging all the rain
drenching rains continued throughout the northern portion of Lee County around
crossroads. There could be some flooded roads here. I would expect with another
one to two inches of rain. So if you come across any reflected roads, turn
back the other way. Don't try to cross it. This will be dropping more into
Tatum and perhaps Lovington over the next couple of hours. Showers and
thunderstorms, some soaking rains continue over the East Mountains on
into the San Siya Valley and here in the Albuquerque area, we've had periods of
showers and thunderstorms. You can see some thunderstorms pulling away from
the Rio Rancho area and more forming up over the Manzanos passing in
northeasterly directions with showers and thunderstorms continue to dot the
metropolitan area and looks like this will be on the increase at least
through tomorrow. We'll have more to show you with future track seven coming
up. Well, tonight, the Torrance County Sheriff says he's worried for the
people who live there today. Six more deputies turned in their notices,
leaving the county virtually unprotected. Only on seven tonight.
Cynthia is a getter is here with the late breaking details. Diane, the
sheriff's department told Action seven news late tonight, six Torrance County
deputies have been offered jobs with other state departments at those six on
top of eight other deputies who are already being laid off this friday. Now
you have 14 deputies possibly gone out of a 19 person staff. Now, the sheriff
says that leaves Torrance County with four school resource officers and only
one transport officer to patrol the entire county. The sheriff's office
says public safety is at grave risk
as the chief deputy for Torrance County.
I feel scared for the public. I feel scared for all our visitors that are
passing through. I feel for all the little kids that need us out there. I'm
told the six deputies who turned in their notices today did it because they
didn't want to risk being laid off. We spoke with state police tonight who
say they are increasing manpower in the Torrance County area. They're taking
officers from the Albuquerque and Santa Fe districts to help Torrance County
patrol neighborhoods. State police says it will help out as long as needed. Live
in the newsroom, Cindy Seguirre, K. O. A. T. Action seven news. Diane, Torrance
County commissioners recently voted in favor of eliminating 12 positions within
the sheriff's department because of a lack of money. APS employees will have
to pay more for their health care tonight. The school board approved an
insurance rate increase. APS says both the Cigna and Presbyterian health care
are raising premiums and there is simply nothing the school district can do about
it. So starting December 1st, employees with a signal will have to pay 9.5%
more. That's $14.33 per paycheck. Employees with Presbyterian insurance
will pay 11.5% more. That equates to $18.29 per pay period. An
Albuquerque charter school will all be allowed to stay open on a few
conditions. We told you about it first yesterday. An audit found $50,000 in
questionable expenditures and missing equipment at Paseo del Monte school.
Well tonight the school board voted to allow that school to continue operating
but school officials will have to send out monthly progress reports. Four more
people have been suspended at Los Alamos National Lab. That was announced today
after the University of California officials toured that facility looking to
see firsthand how LANL is handling the latest security failures. Matt Grubbs has
the story. As Los Alamos slowly returns to work from an unprecedented shutdown
there are four more people who have been suspended. That's not that number now
stands at 23. Most are the focus of an investigation into missing classified
disks. The labs director says that investigation is nearly complete and
punishment will come by the end of August. A month after that Pete Nano says
the lab should be up and running again at a total shutdown cost to taxpayers of
hundreds of millions of dollars. Did that for two reasons. First of all to say
that this is a serious exercise and also to indicate that this is a very serious
investment by DOE in the institution. Now the Department of Energy may not invest
much more in the University of California. The school runs the lab for
the government. We believe that no other institution can provide that level of
science and research. Other institutions will get the chance. The lab contract is
up for grabs and if UC wants to hold on to it they know things need to get fixed
fast. I looked them straight in the eye and I said I need you to help me to help
you. We need to be sure that the culture has changed and the mistakes of the
past are in the past. If they are not in the past the growing feeling is that UC
could be history. In Los Alamos Matt Grubbs KOAT Action 7 News. The University
of California has not announced whether it will bid for the contract next year.
It took a while for police to discover the murder but not long for them to make
an arrest. Tonight police have a suspect jailed in connection with the death of
an Albuquerque woman whose badly decomposed body was found in her home
overnight. This afternoon officers arrested 23 year old Isaac Odugon.
Investigators say he is connected to that body found at the Canyon Point
complex in southeast Albuquerque overnight. An Oklahoma family breathes a
sigh of relief after their toddler survived a 40-foot fall. It happened
Monday at Santa Fe's historic La Fonda Hotel. Police say the two-year-old girl
was playing by the window and she leaned against the screen. It gave way and she
fell three stories from the hotel window. The child though walked away from the
incident unharmed. State police and Santa Fe police say it's purely an accident and
they will not be making any window ordinance recommendations to the city. A
southern New Mexico ranchers horse and spurs have become more than just cowboy
gear. Federal prosecutors have upgraded assault charges against 43 year old Kit
Laney to include assault with a deadly weapon. What are the deadly weapons? Well
Laney's horse spurs and horse reigns. It comes after Laney's arrest March 14th
during a roundup at his of his cattle on the Gila National Forest land.
Authorities say that he threatened to trample federal officers to stop the
roundup. Tomorrow and Friday flags will fly at half staff for Army Sergeant
Tommy Gray of Roswell. Army officials say Sergeant Gray died in Iraq after being
caught between two vehicles. Jeffrey Demars has reaction from Gray's hometown.
Like most New Mexico towns Roswell remembers its heroes. After today it
remembers one more. 34 year old Sergeant Tommy Gray died in Iraq yesterday. Gray
grew up in Roswell attended high school here while growing up used to cut
neighbor Harold Lopez's grass. He's got a lot of people you know right now.
It's kind of sad. Lopez says the loss has been tough on the family. National
Guard Master Sergeant James Jessup has known the family for 35 years. Tommy of
course I just knew him as a kid and all and like I say it's been
probably I hadn't seen him since he was 13 years old and I really didn't even
know that he was in the Army now until I got this call now. I mean it's a really
tough way to find out. Sergeant Gray was assigned to Fort Hood in 1999. His wife
and two kids are traveling to Roswell to be with the rest of the family. In
Roswell Jeffrey Demars KOAT Action 7 News. Army officials say they are still
investigating Sergeant Gray's death. His family will not comment until the wife
returns to Roswell from Fort Hood. Governor Bill Richardson has issued an
executive order as we told you at the beginning of the story that all flags in
New Mexico be flown at half staff through Friday in honor of Gray. Still
ahead on Action 7 News live at 10 we will tell you about a program on the
internet that has hundreds of New Mexicans getting things like tools,
musical instruments, even furniture for free. We've never admitted any guilt or
liability I should say liability in this. But first did the State Highway
Department falsify or forge documents? David Quinlan reports in a Target 7
investigation. And thunderstorms continue to roll in and around the Albuquerque
area while flooding rains continue in the southeast. Your FutureTrack
forecast ahead. Ever since I can remember I've loved watching courtroom
dramas on TV. I love watching the attorneys analyze and present a case.
Last year I enrolled in Metropolitan College. I mean why just watch TV when I
could get my bachelor's degree in court reporting and be a part of the action?
The law fascinates me and I like asking questions. That's why I became a
paralegal and that's why I chose to get my bachelor's degree at Metropolitan
College. The instructors are real legal professionals so when you ask them a
question you get an answer based on real-world experience. My future starts
here. A house should feel like a home. At Highlife Furniture we understand that
you have your own style and taste in decorating and in the furniture you
choose. We'd like to help you find what you want. We have a wide selection of
contemporary, traditional and elegant furniture. Our focus is on personal
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Northeast. Highlife Furniture 830-0380.
You're watching Action 7 News live at Techmo. Doug Fernandez, Diane Anderson,
Chief Meteorologist Joe Diaz and Bob Brown's sports coverage you can count on.
He was an Albuquerque police officer on his way to see his family for Christmas.
But Danny Longoria never made it now. Almost two years later Longoria's crash
is the focus of a possible cover-up. David Quinlan joins us now with a Target
7 investigation. David? Action 7 News obtained a number of documents including
a deposition in a court case involving this accident. We found evidence of
falsified documents, forged signatures and a possible cover-up by the highway
department. If daddy was here today what would you tell him? I love him. At seven
years old life could not be any harder for Joshua Longoria and his mom Terry.
Who's this? Dad. A perfect family, a perfect life with an imperfect ending.
Christmas Eve 2002 534 in the morning. Danny Longoria was driving north on I-25
the weather was bad the roads were icy. One of the last things he said to me was
tear oh my god I'm in a spin and the phone went dead. It would be the last
conversation the two would ever have. Danny's car sat crushed on its side along
the middle of I-25 just south of Rio Bravo. Right before that he had told me
he loved me and I had told him back that I loved him. This area through here is
known for getting icy when the weather turns bad.
Bernalillo County Sheriff investigators Sergeant Steve Duranzo and Deputy Robert
Ortiz were one of the first officers on scene. The ice was so thick that Sergeant
Duranzo slipped when he got out of the car. When I got here that part of the
road was was not sanded it was still you could still see the marks on the roadway.
And it wasn't until after the wreck when investigators say they saw the highway
trucks dumping salt but by then it would be too late.
Danny was dead. The ice is one of the contributing factors. Investigators say
there were a number of crashes along I-25 south of Rio Bravo right before
Danny's wreck. Although it's unclear on whether or not the roads were actually
salted before Danny's crash, the State Highway Department says they did salt
the roads at least three different times. According to highway load tickets
obtained by Action 7 News, three truck drivers salted the crash site before 5
34 a.m. the time of Danny's crash. It lists the areas that were salted, the
times and signatures of each driver including former salt truck driver Andrew
Gutierrez who treated the highway first at 4 a.m. When we found Gutierrez we
found a problem. Is this your signature? No. This is not your signature? No. You
didn't sign this at all? No. If you look closely Andrew's last name is misspelled.
In fact all three drivers say they never filled out any of these load tickets and
never authorized someone to sign their name for them. In a court deposition a
highway department employee admits the original load tickets are missing. He
also admits that he filled out new load tickets and forged the signatures of the
three truck drivers. The employee says he was taught to do that. Do you remember
Andrew on Christmas Eve on whether or not you salted the roads before the
accident? No I didn't. I salted the roads after the accident happened. The
Department of Transportation refused to talk with us because of pending
litigation but when we tracked down the secretary herself... I'm David Quinlan.
She was surprised. These are load tickets from three truck drivers back in Christmas
Eve 2002. All three truck drivers say they didn't sign that and another
same employee did sign it. Is this normal policy? I just got back from vacation. I
have just been informed of this. I saw it on the news this morning. Okay. It is not
policy. We're doing it. We're investigating this and it's being looked
into right now. Rhonda Fott became secretary of the highway department seven
days after the accident. She says no one should have signed the names of the truck
drivers except the drivers themselves. It looks like a cover-up you know because
you got... We have nothing to cover up. I assure you. There's no cover-up. No absolutely not.
What were you and daddy doing here? Sitting down on the porch relaxing. For Danny's
family they want answers too especially his son Joshua who still wears his
dad's wedding ring. You wear that all the time? Yes. You ever take it off? No. In hopes of one
day becoming a police officer just like his dad. Investigators say there is no
single cause for Danny's wreck. In the meantime the Department of Transportation
contacted us late this evening asking for another interview. Secretary Rhonda
Fott says the department emits no liability. Instead this is just a big
misunderstanding. Have a look. We obviously want to correct the situation
and we'll make sure that that is very clear that they're not supposed to be
signing for someone else. Secretary Fott says there were investigations into the
crash but those investigations are now over. Longoria's widow had filed a lawsuit
against the Department of Transportation and the State Highway
Department. A settlement has been reached in those cases. Checking tomorrow's
headlines tonight an Ohio developer is suing for control of the old Santa Fe
rail yard in downtown Albuquerque. Richard Maron claims the Urban Council of
Albuquerque reneged on a deal to buy the property for 1.1 million dollars. The 27
acres is supposed to be developed into a 260 million dollar exposition center.
You can find out what happens next in tomorrow's Albuquerque Journal. Let's
sit a little bit closer to the weather office and usually there's alarms going
off and stuff's going crazy. Joe's rushing all over the place. Now he's rushed over to the weather
wall. Let's get the very latest from him. Well earlier today was the eastern portion of
the city that had the showers and thunderstorms around and then at night
we had those showers and thunderstorms all around the Albuquerque area and it
was quite a brilliant show as we're putting all this together. Of course if
you hear thunder and lightning there's no really no safe place outside. Get
inside and stay away from... look at that some cloud to ground coming there. Stay
away from anything that would conduct electricity like a corded phone. A
cordless would be okay and water is certainly a conductor of electricity so
don't wash when there's a lightning show around with your hands in the sink or a
shower that sort of thing. Let's show you current conditions here in the
Albuquerque area. 73 degrees relative humidity 51% winds out of the southeast
at 13 miles an hour. We still have a flash flood warning in effect throughout
the southeastern portion of New Mexico throughout for Roosevelt County till 11
o'clock and then Lee County continuing until about 1215. Let's go ahead and zoom
in a little bit. Strong thunderstorms continuing from around crossroads and
look at this. Some areas picking up one to two inches of rain and this is now
dropping into the Tatum area and I expect it to drop toward the Lovington
region so if you come across any flooded surfaces don't try to cross just go back
in the other direction. There's Klein's corners. You see strong thunderstorms
continuing to develop in the area over there and we'll get a good look at Super
Track 7 here and you can see showers and thunderstorms starting to roll in and
around primarily from the San Diego's Manzano's working through the Edgewood
area. So this is what we're gonna see over the next couple of hours on into
the overnight thunderstorms at the top of the newscast around real Rancho and
falling apart around Belen earlier 2.01 inches of rain tramway in Montgomery
tramway in central 1.41 inches of rain. So this was the area that had the soaking
range the tramway in Indian School over an inch tramway and Lomas around an
inch three quarters of an inch around Morrison the Indian School area for the
airport. We had a trace of an inch of rain so just a trace of rain being
reported. All of it was on the east side of town. It really got the Arroyo's
flooding. A couple things going on over here. We have the moisture coming in
with that cool front in the east. We have moisture streaming up along with
some disturbances from the south and you put the two together and we're
definitely seeing an uptake in showers and thunderstorms and flooding rains
for tonight. It will taper off just a little bit during the overnight still
be present throughout all the higher terrain and then with the limited heat
of the day tomorrow, more thunderstorms will follow and you can see central and
eastern sections will be pretty prevalent with showers and thunderstorms
heavy at times in the northeast. I don't would be surprised if we get a flash
flood watch issued for that area trace of rain at the airport after 93 for a
high after 61 and 69 in the valley in the Heights, eighties and nineties
throughout much of the state for the daytime highs and temperatures
throughout the rest of the country, continuing to be warm throughout the
southern tier of the country with temperatures in the seventies and
eighties to the north. Well, you're gonna see more active weather
throughout the four corners region than what you shot saw today. Highs in the
eighties, 82 and Gallup, Suva City, Lordsburg, Deming, Las Cruces, all
warming into the eighties and nineties. Roswell, Tija, Carlsbad into Alamogordo
periods of showers and thunderstorms, especially around the higher terrain
then sliding into the eastern plains with some heavy rain being expected
there and up and down the northern mountains on into the Sandias and
Manzanos periods of showers and thunderstorms, along with some heavy
pockets of rain continuing there. Not that it's gonna be a constant rain here
in the Albuquerque area, but certainly there'll be showers and thunderstorms to
work around. That will be true tonight, the capital and then heavy at times
tomorrow, 79 degrees for the Albuquerque area. We'll still see some
showers and rumbles of thunder overnight, becoming more prevalent in
the afternoon, 86 degrees. So tomorrow would be the most active day, a little
less active for friday and then for saturday and sunday more around the
higher terrain on into the eastern portion of the state. But boy, late in
the day, that classic a royal pattern with the storms in the east dry
throughout the rest of the city. But the royals were flowing, lightning all
evening long. Good thing you're a runner so you can keep up with all this.
Well, there may not be such a thing as a free lunch or free meal. But what
about a free deal? Up next, it's the next best thing to eBay, maybe better
because at this website, everything is free. Plus, the hall of fame picture
known for his unique facial hair is in Albuquerque. Bob Brown tells us why
in sport.
Yeah, not in.
Want something for nothing? Well, now there's a website where you can get it.
Popular auction websites like eBay help people sell their unwanted
possessions. But if you want something for nothing, check out free cycle dot
org members in more than 1000 cities, including Albuquerque, can post
listings for items such as furniture, appliances, toys, even pets. But the
merchandise has to be available for free. And speaking of available, one
NFL quarterback is available. Yeah, kind of wonder what's going on if he's a
winning quarterback and then he's gone. Well, in sports, we say free is good.
I don't know about this, though. It's not good. Well, quarterback Quincy
Carter's days in Dallas are over Carter, who started all 16 games and led the
Cowboys to the playoffs year last year was released today. Although team owner
Jerry Jones and coach Bill Parcells refused to get into the specific
surrounding Carter's sudden departure, several news sources are reporting
tonight that Carter recently failed a drug test.
I want you to know today that this on my part was not a difficult decision at
all.
It is, though, very disappointing.
With Carter no longer in the mix, it looks like the Cowboys will now go with
40 year old Vinnie Testa Verde as their starter closer to home coach Rocky
Long and the U. N. M. Football team held its 11th annual women's football clinic
out of University Stadium tonight. Roughly 400 women showed up for this
year's event, mixing a little food and drink with some X's and O's. I think
just about everybody had a pretty good time tonight.
We're having a really great time out here and being in a U. N. M. Alumni.
It's just great to come out and kind of support the team in a different kind of
way.
I really, really enjoy getting to come out and do it and enjoy a nice night
and just have a really good time with the girls. You know, we've enjoyed
having them and it's fun to watch them running around. It's fun to watch them
have a good time and a lot of them are very serious about learning about
football.
Well, the Lobos open up on Friday, September 3rd this year at home against
Washington State. Thanks to a buzzer beater by Alan Iverson, the U. S.
Olympic basketball team picked up a much needed win in an exhibition game
against Germany today, still reeling from yesterday's 17 point blowout at
the hands of Italy. Another loss may have sent Team USA over the edge.
Instead, the young Americans rebounded from that setback. And despite dirt
Navinsky tying it up late in the game with the three of his own, the U. S.
avoided disaster as they beat the Germans 80 to 77 in the world of sports.
He is the man that made the handlebar mustache famous Hall of Famer pitcher
Raleigh fingers in town tonight. The World Series MVP and Cy Young Award
winner is in Albuquerque for tomorrow night's isotope game, where he will
give one lucky fan a chance to win $10,000 in the roll aids, bat and win
game to win the money. The local fan has to get three hits off the legendary
relief pitcher.
Right now, I'm just trying to get it up there or something somewhere in the,
you know, maybe the high fifties, the mid fifties. That's you know, that's
pretty good batting practice for these people. I still put wax on it, you
know, every morning I put wax on it. You know, take a shower in the morning.
It looks like a hand grenade went off in it, but you know, a little bit of
wax and I can do it in my sleep right now. You know, after doing it now for
what? 33 34 years, I've got it. I've got it down pat.
Raleigh spent 17 years in the big leagues and was inducted into the
Baseball Hall of Fame in 1992. He'll be signing autographs out there. Really
cool guy. Used to live in San Diego for a long time. He lives in Las Vegas
now, but they say one autograph per person. Don't bring any bats into the
stadium. And tomorrow's big night, though. The isotopes have lost seven
in a row. Tomorrow night, they're expecting the one million fan to come
through the gates to and that personal win something. Yeah. All right. Here's
what we're working on for Action seven news tomorrow. How early should
Children be taught about the dangers of drugs and alcohol? A new substance
abuse program protecting you protecting me is coming to New Mexico elementary
schools and we'll have details Thursday at six on Action seven news. See you
back here tomorrow. Good night.
K. O. A. T seven honored as station of the year by the New Mexico
Broadcasters Association. It's coverage you can count on
on,
uh,