Video: Car chase turns into hostage situation, Albuquerque police kill suspect
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The Albuquerque Police Department released video on Friday from a deadly officer-involved shooting that started as a car chase and turned into a hostage situation.
On June 20, 42-year-old Dale Meador drove away from officers in a stolen vehicle. The suspect even changed vehicles to try and lose the police. The search then became a hostage situation where he held a gun to the stomach of the woman he was with.
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It all started at around 8:30 am, June 20 when Albuquerque police officers spotted Meador’s Ford Escape behind the Flying J Travel Center in Northwest Albuquerque. “Officers ran the license plate and found that it was reported stolen,” said APD Commander Kyle Hartsock.
When officers tried to pull Meador over, he sped off. He passed cars recklessly around the west side near Central and Coors. Officers tried to slow him down by throwing stop spikes into the road twice. One officer in his lapel video said, “Good spike, good spike.”
The car then pulled into the El Mezquite parking lot on Central. You can see Meador and the woman with him run and get into another stolen truck. Officers ran to both the driver and passengers’ side urging them to get out of the vehicle.
“Get out of the car, both of you. Get out of the car now,” said APD Officer Felix Dominguez in his lapel video.
Meador reversed and drove off after hitting a parked car nearby. The car chase ended when Meador drove into a dirt field at 98th Street and I-40.
At first, Meador had the woman at gunpoint in a drainage tunnel. Hostage negotiators tried getting him to surrender, then police fired non-lethal rounds to get him to surrender. Then SWAT Officer Zachary Herbst fired killing Meador.
APD shared a statement from Officer Herbst. “He stated in his MATF interview that he felt the female was in immediate fear of being killed or seriously harmed by the male and that she had no reasonable opportunity to escape that harm,” said Hartsock on behalf of Herbst.
The woman who accompanied Meador was not charged with anything related to this incident and Officer Herbst is back on duty.
Dale Meador has an extensive criminal record. He had a warrant for his arrest at the time of the deadly shooting for not showing up to court in a stolen vehicle case.
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