Skip to main content
2026 General ElectionAll McKinley County voters can vote by mail
39days until early voting · Oct. 6
67days until Election Day · Nov. 3
GET YOUR MAIL-IN BALLOT NOW →
IF VICTIMS DESERVE BETTER THE RECORD · THE QUESTIONS · THE TRUTH
Independent accountability project. Not affiliated with MCSO, McKinley County, James Maiorano III, or any political campaign.

People · Deputy

MIGUEL BITTONY

Primary responding deputy, principal interviewer on the available bodycam, and author of the investigative report.

Group award photograph with Sheriff James Maiorano III first and Deputy Miguel Bittony third from the left
User-provided image · Sheriff James Maiorano III is #1 from the left; Miguel Bittony is #3.

Deputy · McKinley County Sheriff’s Office

Documented role in this case

ResponseResponded to the July 16 Greyhound incident.
InterviewConducted the principal recorded questioning of Shubham.
ReportAuthored the investigative report.
Key evidence pagesLanguage, six touching moments, ten alternative explanations, nine reassurances, money/fraud discussion, report comparison.

Record issues tied to Bittony’s own actions

Translator request

Shubham requested a translator; Bittony acknowledged none was available and continued questioning.

VIEW →

Question framing

Six generic touching formulations and ten alternative-explanation moments are identified in the timestamp review.

VIEW →

Reassurances

Nine reassuring or minimizing statements are identified while the investigation was still underway.

VIEW →
This profile separates documented statements and actions from questions about whether those choices met policy, training, or investigative standards.

THE RECEIPTS: 6 / 10 / 9

When these counts are used on this site, the timestamped record stays with them.

6 TIMES THE ALLEGATION BECAME JUST “TOUCHING”

Bittony already knew the female passenger had reported multiple instances of touching of her butt and private area.

20:12
“She said that you were touching her.”
20:18
“With your hand. Touching her?”
21:52
“Why would she say you were touching her?”
25:32
“You didn’t touch her? Maybe you were sleeping.”
27:20
“The female is saying that he was touching her.”
27:27
“Why does that lady say he’s touching her?”
28:31 — “But the girl was saying that he was touching her butt.”
This is the first identified buttocks-specific description. The full allegation involving both her butt and private area still is not clearly presented to Shubham on the available recording.

10 INNOCENT-EXPLANATION MOMENTS

1. 18:19
“You don’t know? You were sleeping, maybe?”
Sleep explanation supplied by Bittony.
2. 21:20
“She was moving all over the place?”
Movement explanation supplied by Bittony.
3. 21:38
“She’s just moving around all over?”
Movement explanation reinforced by Bittony.
4. 21:44
“Does she get in your space, in your seat?”
Shubham: “No. I’m sitting this in my area only.”
Seat-space explanation supplied by Bittony. Rejected by Shubham.
5. 22:14
“Maybe your bag?”
Shubham indicates his bag was positioned in front of his seat.
Bag explanation supplied by Bittony.
6. 25:32
“You didn’t touch her? Maybe you were sleeping.”
Sleep explanation reintroduced by Bittony.
7. 25:40
“Maybe you were sleeping and your hand like this?”
Bittony physically demonstrates the accidental hand movement he is suggesting.
Shubham: “No, no, no.”
Accidental-contact explanation supplied and demonstrated by Bittony. Rejected by Shubham.
8. 28:38
“She kept moving around.”
Movement explanation reintroduced by Bittony.
9. 29:10
“When she was moving around, did she move into his space?”
Seat-space explanation supplied by Bittony.
The civilian assisting with translation responds: “He just listen to music.”
That response does not support Bittony’s suggestion that she moved into Shubham’s space.
10. 29:31
Bittony asks again: “Did she move into his space?”
The civilian assisting with translation, not Shubham, initially answers: “Yeah.”
Bittony immediately repeats the proposition.
The subsequent response contains:
“No.”
“Only in her space.”
“her seat.”
The “Yeah” did not come from Shubham. The seat-space explanation originated with Bittony, not from an unsolicited account by Shubham.
WHY IT MATTERS
The issue is not that an investigator considered innocent possibilities. It is who supplied those possibilities, when they were supplied, and what happened when Shubham rejected or failed to support them.

9 REASSURANCES

22:43
“It doesn’t mean you’re going to jail with me.”
31:17
“So he’s not going to be arrested or anything like that.”
31:52
“He’s not going to be arrested. It’s just I’m going to do a report.”
34:47
“He’s not in trouble with me.”
34:47
“You’re not going to go to jail.”
36:34
“Then it’s nothing.”
36:46
“Just don’t think about it too much.”
41:01
“It’s okay, man. You’re going to be okay.”
41:12
“Yeah. It’s unfortunate, but you’ll be fine.”
FIVE SECONDS APART
34:47 — “You’re not going to go to jail.”
34:52 — “I have to gather all the evidence to put it together into a report.”
SEE THE SOURCE → WHAT CAN I DO? →