Santa Fe officers remained on patrol despite investigation

March 26, 2011

with all the talk of needing more santa fe police officers out on patrol ... we've discovered five officers have been off the streets for something that happened more than a year ago. gadi schwartz got his hands on exclusive video of an arrest that's at the center of an internal investigation. gadi. tom, the officers have been assigned to other duties. here is the video at the center of the internal affairs investigation. in march of 2010 -- santa fe police officers follow this car to a wal- mart parking lot- investigating a complaint about this man --- michael schaefer- "i know my rights and i have a lawyer." after officers ask schaefer for his license several times - schaefer holds it out next to the officers face- schaefer is then handcuffed. in the criminal complaint officers say schaefer was verbally abusive - cursed at them and told them he'd get them fired. eventually officers let him go. but as schaefer came back for his wallet- officers say he was aggressive. and when an officer slides his wallet over to schaefer- it falls off the car... officer: here, schaefer: thank you sir, officer: it's icy here i didn't mean to do that, grab it and go. don't look at me like you want to fight because you will not win. schaefer: i do want to fight, officer: oh you do? schaefer: stop, stop, officer: your going to jail. officer: anyone who wants to fight an officer it's... female suspect: "i tried to keep him, i just wanted to keep him from getting into a fight." schaefer was taken to the hospital for a cut on his ear that the criminal complaint - says he got while he was resisting arrest- the complaint also says at the hospital he continually banged his ear against the walls and cussed out nurses and doctors. that criminal complaint and the charges against schaefer were dropped over a scheduling mix up at magistrate court. all the officers in the video were taken off patrol -- 9 months later --in december. the santa fe police department won't say why it took so long for the officers to be taken off patrol. the new santa fe police chief told me late this afternoon, the internal affairs investigation is complete. he plans to have a decision next week