Lawsuit: Officers Abuse Police Brutality Activist and his spouse
A former Bernalillo County sheriff's sergeant is the target of a lawsuit that seeks damages for the "tortuous" damages it says she wreaked on the family of a police watchdog activist. The lawsuit, filed this week in state District Court, names Natalie Jasler as the sergeant who falsely arrested Gilbert Elizondo at his South Valley home, striking and handcuffing him and violently mistreating his wife, Margaret Nieto. Jasler allegedly slapped and kicked them and kneed him in the groin several times while he was handcuffed and other deputies held him. In an interview last month, Elizondo said he continues to suffer physical pain in his back, shoulders and head and has difficulty sleeping at night. Elizondo was then arrested on a charge of aggravated assault on a peace officer. Jasler accused him of slamming her into a wall and injuring her shoulder. The charges were dropped moments before Elizondo was to go to trial last month because of last-minute "discovery issues" involving police reports. [more 