Adam Casaus, a 12-year veteran
of the Albuquerque Police Department, will serve the maximum sentence for
misdemeanor careless driving that led to the death of 21-year-old Ashley
Browder. He sped through an intersection in a police SUV, killing the Air
National Guard member and injuring her younger sister.
BY RACHELLE BLIDNER
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
A former New Mexico police
officer whose careless driving killed a 21-year-old Air National Guard member
was sentenced to 90 days in jail Friday.
Adam Casaus will serve the
maximum sentence and pay a fine of $300 after a jury found him guilty of two
counts of careless driving in September.
Casaus ran a red light while behind
the wheel of an Albuquerque Police Department SUV Feb. 10, 2013, investigators
said. His car slammed into a white Honda CRV, killing passenger Ashley Browder,
and injuring driver and sister Lindsay Browder, then 19.
In September, Casaus was
cleared of charges of vehicular homicide and reckless driving, felonies that
could have thrown him behind bars for up to nine years, according to KRQE News
13.
Prosecutors and Browder's
family said they were disappointed and angered that Casaus was charged with only
a misdemeanor for Ashley Browder's death. The family asked Judge Richard
Knowles to sentence the former cop to the maximum sentence.
"Adam Casaus has given us
a life sentence without Ashley, a life sentence of mental and physical pain for
Lindsay, and life sentence of grief and sorrow for her father and mother,"
Chuck Browder, Ashley and Lindsay Browder's father, told the court Friday.
Casaus apologized to Browder's
family, saying he is "grieving" with them.
"If there was a way I
could switch places with Ashley Browder right now, I would," Casaus said.
He told the court he was
speeding to chase after a car driving recklessly, but investigators said there
is no evidence of that claim.
The former sergeant testified
that he drove through a green light on Paseo del Norte, not a red one, the
first time he has claimed so in trial.
Casaus requested to serve his
90 days in house arrest but was denied. He will spend his jail sentence in
protective custody at Metropolitan Detention Center, according to KOAT 7.
The 12-year veteran of the
police department lost his job and his law enforcement certification months
after the accident, the Albuquerque Journal reported. He will not get his job
back after serving his sentence.
Browder's family has filed a
wrongful death lawsuit against Casaus and the police department.
Ashley Browder served in the
Nevada National Guard for three years before moving to Albuquerque with her
sister two months before the collision.