Man T-boned by Albuquerque police chief speaks out about life-altering injuries
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – The man seriously hurt in a T-bone crash caused by Albuquerque’s police chief last month is speaking out, saying the actions of the city’s foremost law enforcer left him with life-altering injuries.
Todd Perchert says it was the perfect day for cruising in his vintage Mustang. He says he never expected his life would be turned upside down by the police chief. “It was so fast I don’t think I had time to even brace for it,” Perchert says.
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On Saturday, February 17, Perchert was cruising down Route 66 in his family heirloom car—a gold 1966 Ford Mustang. His plan was to head from the Route 66 Diner to a Mustang Club meetup at the Atomic Museum, but he never made it.
“As I approached the intersection of Central and Alvarado, I clearly recall seeing the green light before going through the intersection. Then all of a sudden, I saw a black truck come out of nowhere and slammed into me on the driver’s side,” Perchert said.
In that black truck was Albuquerque Police Department Chief Harold Medina—it was an unmarked APD unit. He would later tell the media he and his wife were fleeing gunfire after pulling over near two men in a fight. “The grille was mostly what I saw as I sat eye-level, and I remember the sound quite well,” Perchert said.
In the aftermath of the crash, Perchert was trying to get someone to call his wife: “As the car came to a stop, I saw a woman step toward me and said I should call 9-1-1 which I did. At this point, the pain hit me. I couldn’t sit up and just leaned over the center console. Another woman came over and said I was bleeding while trying to talk with the emergency operator on the phone, I couldn’t breathe making it difficult to talk.
“I kept reiterating that I needed someone to call my wife who was out of town for work. At one point I looked down and realized even though everything in the car had flown all over the place, the bible I kept on the center console was what was propping up, it was squarely under my left hand, holding me up. That’s when I knew God was with me,” Perchert said.
He was crushed in the crash, having to be dragged out of the passenger side of his car. On his left side, he sustained a broken collarbone, shoulder blade, eight broken ribs, and a collapsed lung.
“Titanium plates have been put on all but the two top ribs, which was a seven-hour surgery,” Perchert said. He says he’s been in constant pain since the crash. “When I saw the actual video of the accident, I was like, surprised I came out with what I got,” Perchert said.
He and his wife now want answers from the city. “My husband’s injuries due to the chief’s reckless disregard for the lives and safety of others were secondary and blown off as if no concern by the APD spokesperson, and the mayor,” said Danielle Perchert, Todd Perchert’s wife, “To make things worse, the mayor praised the chief’s actions. That made me sick.”
Danielle, who was on the East Coast for work as a first responder, found out from police about her husband’s crash over the phone. “In my head, all I kept hearing was, ‘the police chief was running away, he was running away. He was running away. And my husband is injured because he was running away,” Danielle says, “Rehabilitation will be a very long and very painful process.”
The Percherts are now expected to file a lawsuit. “We have questions why he pulled over in the first place in an unmarked vehicle with his wife in the car without his lapel camera on. Officers have been disciplined and terminated for similar unsafe driving practices,” says James Tawney, attorney for the Percherts.
They’re also questioning why APD is doing its own internal investigation, rather than having another agency look into it, and why Medina did not even seem to receive a ticket for the crash.
The Percherts say they’re not asking for the chief to resign, but say they want accountability and compensation for Todd’s injuries. “I’ll have the metal in my chest for the rest of my life, so you know the bones could heal up…but any complications that could arise from that, I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Perchert said.
Danielle says they used to lead a very active lifestyle, and Todd had just begun training for half-marathons again: “But now he is in constant pain, and has limited mobility.”
“There’s no amount of money that will put him back into the place that he was before this crash,” Tawney said. Tawney says it’s too early to know how much financial compensation they will ask for, and what sort of measures would be suitable to hold Medina accountable.
APD says the internal investigation into the crash is ongoing.
“We’re glad to see Mr. Perchert is recovering from his injuries. Because the internal investigation is on-going, we’re not going to speculate about the outcome. A crash review board will determine whether the crash was preventable, and the Internal Affairs investigation will determine whether policies were followed during the entire incident. The Superintendent of Police Reform will decide whether discipline is required, based on those findings.”
Gilbert Gallegos, spokesperson for the Albuquerque Police Department
The Percherts say their Mustang, which was passed down to Todd from his uncle, and then his father shortly before he passed away, was totaled in the crash. He had owned it for 12 years.
