6 minute read
LONG ARC OF THE LAW
Santa Fe Sheriff’s deputy who killed man in Tesuque has history of violence, service in lengthy career
BY JEFF PROCTOR jeffproctor@sfreporter.com
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The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot a man in Tesuque on July 7 has a complicated history that includes resigning from another department after his high-profile arrest on suspicion of domestic violence and saving a small child during a traffic stop.
SFR has learned that Deputy Patrick Ficke shot 45-year-old Edward Daniel Santana at least once, killing him, outside a residence at 1 Entrada Capulin.
New Mexico State Police, the agency investigating the shooting, says Ficke— whom the department refuses to identify—and another deputy went to the home to investigate what turned out to be a fatal stabbing.
They moved the woman to safety, then confronted Santana. State Police says he was holding a “fence post,” ignored commands to drop it and walked “aggressively” toward the deputies.
One deputy fired an electronic stun gun at Santana, according to State Police. Then Ficke shot Santana, who died at the scene.
It was the fourth cop shooting in Santa Fe over a two-week stretch. Three of them were fatal: two by the sheriff’s department and one by the Santa Fe Police Department.
Multiple sources familiar with the July 7 incident identified Ficke as the shooter. State Police ignored SFR’s questions; the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office refused to discuss Ficke or the shooting.
“I’m not going to respond to your questions today because I am doing other stuff,” sheriff’s spokesman Juan Rios told SFR last week.
Ficke could not be reached for comment.
In an interview with The Santa Fe New Mexican, Santana’s family raised questions about the circumstances of the shooting. One family member who lived at the home on Entrada Capulin said Santana had sliced his own throat and was bleeding profusely before Ficke pulled the trigger.
THE 2013 INCIDENT Ficke started at the Albuquerque Police Department in 2003, holding various positions before rising to the rank of sergeant and receiving a plum assignment—in one of APD’s most notorious, troubled sections, the Special Investigations Division (SID).
In charge of SID’s Narcotics Unit, Ficke was known in the department as an aggressive risk-taker.
On Feb. 10, 2013, Ficke and a handful of fellow cops, including other SID supervisors, were drinking in downtown Albuquerque. Ficke made his way home to Rio Rancho, though it is not clear how, and was “very intoxicated” when he arrived, his then-wife, who also was an APD detective, later told investigators. The couple began to argue when Ficke said he’d been called back on-duty.
His wife told him he couldn’t go to work drunk. Further, she believed he may have wanted to meet another woman, with whom he was having an extramarital affair.
The pair continued to argue, and Ficke struck his wife several times in the nose with his phone, according to a police report. Ficke punched her in the temple and “squeezed her neck so hard that she felt pain going down her left shoulder”—all in front of the couple’s young children.
She eventually left the home and called police.
After hours as a fugitive, Ficke was allowed to turn himself in to Rio Rancho police around noon the day after the alleged beating. That agency charged him with three felonies—two counts of child abuse and one count of false imprisonment— and battery on a household member, a misdemeanor.
After bonding out of jail, Ficke went to APD headquarters and resigned instead of facing an Internal Affairs investigation.
The criminal case languished for three years and was eventually dismissed when Ficke’s lawyer convinced a judge his speedy trial rights had been violated. His then-wife’s injuries persisted, too.
NEXT STOPS FOR FICKE After his resignation, Ficke bounced around at various state agencies and even worked as a part-time mental health counselor.
He returned to law enforcement when the Bosque Farms Police Department— home, through the years, to numerous former APD officers—hired him in 2018.
By 2020, Ficke had been promoted to lieutenant. That fall, he was named one of five finalists for the vacant chief’s position in Bosque Farms, but he didn’t get the job.
Some time after that, Ficke put on the badge for Adan Mendoza’s sheriff’s department in Santa Fe. (The Sheriff’s Office won’t say when.)
It is not clear whether Mendoza’s department considered Ficke’s past when he was hired.
Since joining the department, Ficke has once again made headlines.
Last month, the department publicized dashcam video showing Ficke conducting a traffic stop on Interstate 25. The driver stopped, then jumped out of the vehicle. Ficke ran to the vehicle and saw a 1-yearold child choking on a Cheeto. He performed an infant-tailored version of the Heimlich maneuver and dislodged the chip.
HOLDING UP THE NARRATIVE? The sheriff’s department has not said whether there is video showing Ficke’s July 7 fatal shooting of Santana.
According to State Police, deputies were sent to the Tesuque residence around 8 am that day to investigate a stabbing. They found 67-year-old Delia Cervantes, Santana’s mother, lying on a bench and moved her to safety.
She later died at an area hospital.
Deputies found Santana, and Ficke shot him.
Santana’s family believes he may not have been capable of assaulting the deputies because he was bleeding from the neck, according to The New Mexican. The family questions the narrative pushed by State Police about what led up to the shooting.
The agency’s narratives don’t always hold up.
The sheriff’s department last week released video showing deputies shoot and kill 32-year-old Nathan Roybal on Siler Road after a traffic stop on June 23.
Three weeks after the shooting, State Police said deputies Leonardo Guzman and Jacob Martinez and Corporal Chris Zook fired shots.
While he was an officer with the Santa Fe Police Department, Guzman shot and killed 29-year-old Andrew Lucero after a vehicle chase that ended in Eldorado. The case raised questions about potential violations of SFPD policy, though it is unclear whether Guzman was disciplined because the department refuses to release information about its internal punishment system. Guzman was cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the shooting.
The video released by the sheriff’s department of the Siler Road incident contradicts the initial version of events State Police put forward; the agency later partially corrected its characterization.
The video shows Roybal waving his arm outside the driver’s window, holding an object that appears to be a gun. He appears to fire one shot.
The deputies respond with a barrage of bullets, striking the truck multiple times. The driver then exits, drops the object and runs away from the deputies.
As he flees, deputies fire multiple shots at Roybal, striking him at least once. Roybal then falls to the ground.
According to State Police, he died at the scene.
COURTESY SANTA FE COUNTY SHERIFF / FACEBOOK
The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Department won’t say when it hired Patrick Ficke or whether he’s still on the job.
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