DPS News:SANTA FE ― Three New Mexico law enforcement officers, from three different centuries, were honored this morning at the New Mexico Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Law Enforcement Memorial when their names were unveiled on a memorial wall.
The black marble memorial wall, which now lists 198 names, is dedicated to the memory of New Mexico law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.
The morning’s memorial honors Rio Rancho Police Officer Anthony Haase, Santa Fe Police Chief Apolonio Pino and Santa Fe Police Officer Jose A. Griego.
Ofc. Haase was killed Oct. 2, 2014. A one year veteran of the Rio Rancho Police Department, Haase was involved in a single vehicle crash that took his life. He was responding to an assault in progress that reportedly involved a firearm.
Chief Pino was killed March 12, 1933, after entering a home on Read Street in Santa Fe, where one of his officers, Robert Burrus, had been drinking beer. The chief demanded the officer’s badge, but a brief standoff ensued with guns drawn. Pino retreated and hid. Ofc. Burrus found Pino and demanded that he come out. A shooting commenced during which Pino was killed. Source: STATE V. BURRUS, 1934-NMSC-036, 38 N.M. 462, 35 P.2d 285 (S. Ct. 1934).
Ofc. Griego was killed in the line of duty July 18, 1980. The perpetrator was a fellow policeman, James H. Dunnigan. While being taken to jail, Dunnigan fired his pistol at Griego, hitting him in the throat. Griego died at the scene. Source: Weekly Herald, Steubenville, OH, July 23, 1880, p. 4, and Boston Globe, July 19, 1880, p. 1.
