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The
1950s On September 30, 1950, Chief Beasley resigned his
position as chief. He had
been charged with a federal civil rights violation while questioning a
suspect in a homicide investigation.
As a result of the charge, former Chief Beasley, the Sheriff of
Dona Ana County, and one of the sheriff's deputies were sentenced to one
year in a federal prison. Chief Beasley was the last chief to be
appointed from outside the ranks.
Patrolman
Nash Garcia joined the state police in 1944.
He had been the Chief Field Deputy for the Bernalillo County
Sheriff’s Department prior to joining the state police. Officer
Garcia was stationed in Albuquerque where he gained the reputation of
being anexcellent investigator. In
1948, he was appointed Officer-in-Charge of the Albuquerque office, and
later that year was promoted to captain.
In June of 1950, he was demoted back to the rank of patrolman.
He subsequently requested duty away from Albuquerque and was
assigned to Grants, then a one-man duty station. Officer Garcia worked in Grants for nearly a year
and had occasion to arrest a number of DWI offenders, including Indians
from the Acoma Pueblo. One
of these was Gabriel Felipe, who, with his brother, Willie, frequently
drank to excess. On Good Friday, April 11, 1952, the brothers were driving a new red Willys pickup truck on US 66, east of Grants and drinking wine. They saw Officer Garcia on patrol and taunted him until he started pursuing them. They led him at high speeds on the highway before turning onto a dirt road where the chase continued up into a desolate area in the mountainous part of the Acoma Indian Reservation. The brothers later stated that at that point they were trying to elude the determined officer. Being unable to do so; however, they rounded a curve, stopped their pickup, grabbed a rifle from its rack, and shot the officer through the windshield of his patrol car as he came around the curve. Mortally wounded, Officer Garcia stopped his car, opened the door and fell to the ground. He was beaten with the wooden stock of the rifle until it broke into pieces. The brothers loaded the dead officer back into his car and drove it into a clump of trees before leaving the scene. On the following day they returned, filled the car with juniper boughs and set it afire. An intensive search was initiated for the missing
officer, but was unsuccessful. On
Sunday, April 13, a cowboy reported seeing a red pickup being chased by
a police car. The search
shifted to the Acoma Pueblo, where the only shiny red pickup was found
in front of Willie Felipe’s house.
He came to the door, admitted his crime, implicated his brother
Gabriel, and led officers to the remains of the car, which had been
totally gutted by the intense heat. A jury trial took place in federal
court and the brothers were convicted of first degree murder and
ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment.
On August 5, 1953, Sergeant
John Ramsey Jr., Patrolman Joe Aven Jr.,
and Hobbs City Police Chief E.W. Long were in Sergeant Ramsey’s patrol
unit on US 180, traveling toward Sweetwater, Texas.
They were investigating a perjury case and were to stop in
Seminole, Texas to attend the funeral of the Sheriff of Gaines County
who had died in an automobile accident earlier that week. The
three officers were approximately 19 miles east of Hobbs; the unit was
approaching two westbound cars when the second car pulled out into the
eastbound lane in an attempt to pass the front car.
As Sergeant Ramsey swerved to his right leaving the roadway, the
oncoming car, occupied by a family from Chicago, veered toward their
left, causing a head-on collision.
Sergeant Ramsey was killed instantly; Chief Long and Officer Aven
were transported to a nearby hospital with serious injuries.
Three members from the family of five in the Chicago vehicle were
also killed. The next day, August 6, Officer Aven died of his injuries. Sergeant Ramsey, better known as Jake, was commissioned on April 1, 1949. He originally had completed the November 1937 school, but at that time had decided not to become a member of the state police. His first duty station was Gallup, and later Hobbs. Officer Aven was commissioned on August 15, 1949. His first duty station was Las Cruces; he was later transferred to Hobbs.In 1956, by a vote of the officers, a new light gray shirt with black oxford gray trim on the epaulets was adopted for summer wear. This was before the patrol cars were equipped with air conditioners, and the shirts were being tested for coolness. On that same date, officers were required to wear shoulder patches on both shoulders. In April 1958, a vote of the officers resulted in doing away with the gray shirt and reverting full-time to the regular black uniform shirt.
In 1958, the state police acquired its first aircraft, a Cessna 180 that was on loan from the State Corporation Commission. The first state police pilot was Patrolman Melvin McGuire.
The state police underwent another change on June 1, 1959, when
Governor Burroughs replaced Chief Joe Roach with Captain A.P. Winston.
Chief Roach assumed command of the Silver City district as a
captain. Chief Winston was appointed to the State Police in June 1935.
He left the department to serve as a naval officer during World
War II. At the time of his
appointment he was a captain in Springer. The state police had ten districts: Santa Fe, Las Vegas, Clovis, Roswell, Las Cruces, Silver City, Socorro, Gallup, Aztec, and Albuquerque.
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