{"id":1906,"date":"2007-06-27T16:02:00","date_gmt":"2007-06-27T22:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/police-account-of-arrest-differs-from-foleys\/"},"modified":"2007-06-27T16:02:00","modified_gmt":"2007-06-27T22:02:00","slug":"police-account-of-arrest-differs-from-foleys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/06\/police-account-of-arrest-differs-from-foleys\/","title":{"rendered":"Police account of arrest differs from Foley’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The police account of House Minority Whip Dan Foley\u2019s<\/a> arrest differs sharply from what the GOP representative says happened. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Regardless of who\u2019s telling the truth, police reports and Foley\u2019s booking mug are sure to come back to haunt him in future elections.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Foley pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Roswell<\/st1:city><\/st1:place> to petty misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct, obstructing an officer and resisting arrest.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

According to police, Foley was arrested while rushing the court and shouting profanities after a fight broke out at his son\u2019s Gus Macker basketball tournament game. He also spit chewing tobacco at an officer before he was arrested, according to the report. He faces a maximum of 20 days in jail and a $784 fine, according to the Roswell Daily Record<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Foley is scheduled to go to trial on Aug. 2.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The reports of several police officers all present the same basic story of what happened on Sunday: A fight broke out on the court. Foley charged the court while yelling that someone had \u201chit my (expletive deleted) kid,\u201d and one officer tried to stop him. Foley pushed his way past that officer, and two others grabbed him and forced him to the ground on his back, where he continued to resist. Foley was then turned onto his stomach and handcuffed, according to the officers\u2019 accounts.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The officer Foley pushed past wrote in his report that the representative \u201coverpowered me,\u201d and that \u201cMr. Foley\u2019s chewing tobacco had been spit on my white duty polo shirt. Mr. Foley also possessed chewing tobacco on the front of his shirt.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Foley appears in his booking mug with a brown stain on his shirt. He admitted it was a tobacco stain but said he \u201ccouldn\u2019t tell you\u201d how it got there, and said he doesn\u2019t chew tobacco.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI get violently sick when I smell tobacco,\u201d he said, adding that many members of the House can vouch for the fact that he tells them to quit chewing.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Foley asserts that he was \u201ccalm\u201d but attempting to step in after the coach of the opposing team shoved his son to the ground.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI would do that again for any kid,\u201d Foley said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The coach of Foley\u2019s team told police that the other coach \u201cput his arm out\u201d to stop Foley\u2019s son from getting into the fight, and that Foley\u2019s son \u201cstumbled back, and it may have looked to Mr. Foley that (the coach) did that on purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Several people watching the game cheered when Foley was arrested, according to police reports, and told police he was a lawmaker and had been yelling at players and officials during other games over the weekend.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Another interesting point \u2013 the Roswell<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> newspaper\u2019s original article<\/a>, published Monday, quoted a mall security officer who witnessed the incident and shared a version of events similar to that relayed by Foley. Foley said he doesn\u2019t know the man, but added that other witnesses will back up his version of events.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

What does it mean for Foley\u2019s career?<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Regardless, the photo of Foley in handcuffs and with a tobacco stain on his white T-shirt is likely to show up in every race from now until the end of his career. Police reports detailing his use of profanity and accusing him of resisting officers will likely haunt him as well.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

A conviction would further damage his reputation.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Many say the 37-year-old Foley has a temper, and it\u2019s no secret that his speech often includes profanity. At the same time, he\u2019s a skilled debater and organizer who has helped make House Republicans more effective than their Senate counterparts and the state GOP organization.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Foley said he isn\u2019t prone to uncontrolled outbursts of anger, noting that he had never been arrested before Sunday.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy have I never been in a fistfight? Why I have never strangled anyone?\u201d Foley asked. \u201cWhy have I never gone after a lobbyist?\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

House Minority Leader Tom Taylor<\/a> of Farmington<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said he doesn\u2019t think the incident will affect Foley\u2019s ability to continue in his leadership position.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom what I understand, there\u2019s not really much wrongdoing that I can see in the thing. Dan didn\u2019t really engage anybody,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 If he\u2019d gone out on the court and pounded somebody that would be different.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t there, so I really don\u2019t know the details of it,\u201d Taylor<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> said. \u201cHopefully, whatever justice is, there will be, and that will be the end of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Taylor<\/st1:place><\/st1:city> also added that he has spent a lot of time with Foley and never seen him chew tobacco.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Speaker of the House Ben Lujan<\/a>, D-Namb\u00e9, on the other hand, said Foley\u2019s conduct \u201csets a bad example for children.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that this thing had to happen, but I feel that we have to take responsibility and we should apologize when we do something not lawful,\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t set a good example when we try to interfere with the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The police report<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Here is the entire police report from Foley\u2019s arrest. A warning: It does contain profanity.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

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The police account of House Minority Whip Dan Foley\u2019s arrest differs sharply from what the GOP representative says happened. Regardless of who\u2019s telling the truth, police reports and Foley\u2019s booking mug are sure to come back to haunt him in future elections. Foley pleaded not guilty Tuesday in Roswell to petty misdemeanor charges of disorderly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}