FARMINGTON, N.M. – The New Mexico Department of Justice won’t file charges against three police officers who arrived at the wrong house while responding to a domestic violence call and fatally shot the homeowner last year.
Greer Staley, New Mexico’s deputy attorney general for criminal affairs, said in a letter on Friday to San Juan County District Attorney Rick Tedrow that the investigation and review found that, despite approaching the wrong house, the three Farmington Police Department officers acted appropriately in the April shooting. The department said the officers did not use excessive force and should not face criminal charges.
Officers Daniel Estrada, Dylan Goodluck, and Waylon Wasson fatally shot Farmington homeowner Robert Dotson in the doorway of his home late that evening while they were responding to a domestic violence call that originated from the neighborhood. The officers responded to the wrong address, erroneously knocking repeatedly on the Dotson family’s door.
When Robert Dotson opened the door armed with a handgun, the officers alleged he pointed the weapon at them, and they opened fire on him, killing him. After finding her husband on the floor of their home, Kimberly Dotson, Robert Dotson’s wife, picked up his handgun and fired at the officers, who returned fire. The gunfire exchange stopped without anyone else being hit once Kimberly Dotson realized the men standing in her front yard were police officers.
