NMDOT Repairs I-40 Median Damaged in Crash That Killed BCSO Sergeant

The concrete median NMDOT crews spent Tuesday repairing on I-40 near Carnuel stood as a physical marker of where BCSO Sgt. Michael Barrett Schlattman lost his life. The semi-truck that struck and pinned the 52-year-old beneath his own patrol unit veered off the highway after impact and slammed into that same median on February 23, 2025, at approximately 5 p.m. Schlattman died at the scene. The tractor-trailer driver was treated and released at UNM Hospital.

Schlattman, a 13-year veteran of the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, had called in a traffic stop and stepped outside his department-issued vehicle near mile marker 170-171 on eastbound I-40 in the East Mountains when the tractor-trailer struck the rear of his patrol unit. He was the first law enforcement officer killed in the line of duty in New Mexico in 2025.

A crash report from the Rio Rancho Police Department, which took over the investigation to ensure impartiality and avoid any potential conflict of interest, cited the driver's failure to yield to police vehicles and noted that "low visibility due to glare" from the setting sun may have been a contributing factor. The driver, who was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, told investigators he did not remember much of the incident. A separate witness reported that the same semi-truck had nearly forced her off the road shortly before the fatal crash. The driver has not been charged or cited. New Mexico State Police and BCSO's traffic unit are assisting RRPD as the investigation continues.

The section of I-40 where Schlattman was killed is among the most dangerous stretches in the region. According to crash data from NMDOT and the University of New Mexico, 30 crashes occurred in the area in 2025 alone, 27 of them in the exact section where Schlattman died, with at least 10 involving heavy commercial trucks. Sheriff John Allen described the corridor in plain terms: "People are going 65 and even 85 to 90 miles per hour on a curve, with a blind spot where the sun is in your eyes. There's a lot of danger out there."

Schlattman joined BCSO on April 16, 2012, and had been promoted to sergeant just months before his death, on July 13, 2024. During his tenure, he served as a detective in the Special Investigations and Auto Theft units and as a federal task force officer with both the U.S. Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration. At the time of his death, he was assigned to the East Mountains district. Colleagues knew him as "Schlatty."

New Mexico Department of Public Safety Cabinet Secretary Jason R. Bowie said he was "heartbroken by the line-of-duty death." Sheriff Allen remembered Schlattman as "a servant leader and a protector in the truest sense" who "never asked a deputy to do something he would not do himself."

A procession carried Schlattman along I-40 late Monday night and through the city to the Office of the Medical Investigator. His public memorial was held March 2, 2025, at the Rio Rancho Event Center and drew hundreds of attendees; it was his 53rd birthday. He is survived by his fiancée, Tara Flynn-Tedder of Albuquerque; his father, James Lee Schlattman; his sister, Stacia Ann Fazzaro; and his dog, Sadie. A GoFundMe campaign was launched to support his family.