# Albuquerque, N.M. OIC A&B on PO w/ Shovel



## RodneyFarva (Jan 18, 2007)

Its one of those things, in hindsight probably should have got the shovel from him at the start. But there is only so much you can do. Good shoot.
*shooting starts at 7:30 mark









APD officer Edgar Sandoval fatally shot Valente Acosta-Bustillos, 52, during a welfare check in the man's home. Police say they realized Acosta-Bustillos had a warrant and tried to arrest him and he threatened them with a shovel.

One of his family members had called 911, saying they had not seen Acosta-Bustillo in several days, and he failed to pick up his paycheck.

When officers arrived, they found Acosta-Bustillo in his yard with a shovel in his hand.

Valente was found to have one confirmed felony warrant for felony aggravated assault with a deadly weapon-- at that point the call changed from a welfare check to felony arrest which officers were obligated to enforce

Bodycam video shows Acosta-Bustillo going back into his house and refusing to comply with officers. After he refused to drop the shovel, he was tased.

The video shows Acosta-Bustillo then lift the shovel over his head, in what appears to be a threatening manner, before he was shot.

He eventually died at the hospital.


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## LGriffin (Apr 2, 2009)

Good shoot. Don't leave your partner with an armed subject to go check paperwork either.


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## LA Copper (Feb 11, 2005)

LGriffin said:


> Good shoot. Don't leave your partner with an armed subject to go check paperwork either.


1000% agree, never leave your partner alone with a possible suspect, especially like in this case when he's been acting strangely and has potential weapons at his disposal, i.e, the shovel in his hands, the 2X4 on the ground next to him, and whatever else was potentially on his person since he hadn't been searched.... big mistake. I'm wondering why the officer couldn't run the suspect for warrants over his radio while remaining with his partner, that's what they're for. Splitting up from your partner is a huge no no within the LAPD, which I totally agree with.

I'm also wondering why they wear their body cameras on their gun belts instead of somewhere on their shirts? Watching everyone's crotch area really isn't much of a help in critical incidents like these.


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## Hush (Feb 1, 2009)

I still think a straight stick properly used is more effective than a taser. At least this was a quick deployment, although ineffective. It was a good shoot, but probably a guy who didn't NEED to get shot. Like the other recent video of a guy threatening with a baseball bat in a walmart who was shot, a good blindside bumrush to knock him off his feet would have worked...but might have looked "excessive" and caused injuries.


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