ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It was just before 10 a.m. Saturday morning when traffic on Central and Alvarado came to a crashing halt.

Surveillance video shows some kind of fight break out between two people. According to the Albuquerque Police Department, one of them pulls out a gun and shoots. To avoid gunfire, Chief Harold Medina decided to run the red light with his wife in the car and crashed into another driver.

The crash has been raising questions about APD’s rules surrounding family members in police units.

“The number one thing is the safety of the community and our families. Sometimes it is a difficult balance for us to make sure we are able to accomplish that,” Medina said.

When it comes to APD’s handbook, officers are allowed to have family members in their vehicle as long as they aren’t responding to a call. Medina said this was something he fought for in 2018.

“In the past, I used to have SWAT officers when I was in the tactical session who actually went to the movie theater, their wife and kids went in one car, and they went in another car. They did the same thing for groceries, and it isn’t a good conducive lifestyle for the fact that we are asking these people to be on call 24/7,” he said.

He added that the policy was a good recruitment tool for officers but that doesn’t mean the department can’t revisit the policy.