[Music]
um
um you you mentioned um i'm sorry i
should be calling to be here
you mentioned uh you're a deputy you can
tell me where you're at deputy with
donald county sheriff's department
okay um how long have you been there
i'm going in five years it's gonna be
five years
okay do you have any other uh law
enforcement experience perhaps yes i was
13 how 13 and a half years with new
mexico state police
anything before msp no
no okay so
what's your uh assigned uh what are you
just a regular patrol deputy
so again the reason we're here uh is
because there was an incident that
happened last thursday on
february 4th 2021 um
so what i'm going to do is just going to
leave it open
have you tell me what what occurred that
day how what your involvement was how
you got involved
and then we'll go back and answer a
couple questions sound good
good go ahead sir so that day i was uh
assigned i had just started day shift
the day before
i've been graveyards basically my whole
career
i decided to switch to day shift so it
was my second day on day shift
i was assigned to district four which
it's basically from i-10
south towers
so when the pursuit started i was at
flea
which i don't know exactly the address
but it's by the wa by the walmart by
walton
i had just i was living there
i had to get two new batteries in my
unit so i had just left
i was living when uh my partner that day
which is unit 1109
was dispatched to a pursuit
agency assist it came as an agency
assist
pursue uh coming from them in
state policies in pursuit so
at that point i asked dispatch to put me
on the on the call
and i started heading down
towards loman
and then the next radio transmission
that i remember
was new mexico state police officer was
shot in
and it's possibly 10-7
so at that point i put lights and sirens
and at that point
a lot of it is pretty [ __ ] because uh
you know so my brother is the captain
in in in district 12 and i know that he
was 1080 that day
and i know that it happened there in
deming so
you know it was like well [ __ ] i wonder
who it is because
you know it's just my i wanted to know
who it was right away so
then the next radio transmission was
it's actually the new mexico state
police confirmed
10-7 you know so i was like holy [ __ ]
man i'm
lighting sirens and and i i know that i
call my brother is
to see you know and then he answered and
then
when he answered i think all i said is
we'll get him we'll stop him here you
know
and then uh and then i hung up and then
at that point it was just like okay
focus on
on what's going on the pursuit where is
it coming from
you know i was trying to you know there
was so much people getting on the radio
that there was no
a specific place that anybody wanted to
set up at
you know and i suggest i i think i
remember that i suggested that we should
all meet at the 140
and wait you know for the pursuit to
come but then everybody was
you know they're going here they're
going there i could hear people going
everywhere
and then as this radio transmission was
it
it's always a little bit delayed anyways
but um i
heard that the whoever the suspect was
uh was uh shooting out of the vehicle
two units
on the side of the road and just
shooting out the window so
i got to the to the 132
exit which is the the picacho exit
of i10 and i was right there by the
bridge and
i was gonna i was gonna get out my ar in
in the spike the spikes but that
i heard that the they were passing the
135 so it would have been probably too
late to do that
so at that point i just got in my unit
and i was waiting for the
the pursuit to get close and then when i
saw the pursuit coming
i saw that there was a big old gap in
between the units
pursuing the the suspect vehicle so i
started
i started speeding up and then jumped
on the pursuit and jumped as primary at
that point
because there was a big old gap so and i
wasn't gonna
let this guy go or anything you know my
mind was said that this guy was gonna be
stopped at whatever
whatever possible whatever he took this
guy was gonna be stopped and in my mind
i was thinking already
ramming or pitting or something
um and then so i got behind him
and then uh it was not even half a mile
when i observed the lcpd camaro
which i i found out later it was like
jump in front of me so i had to
hit on the brakes and kind of veer
left in order to not i mean i i missed
him by
inches i mean i i could just see his
bumper like right in front of me like i
barely missed him
and went into the minion and then you
know so i had to but that wasn't gonna
i wasn't gonna i was able to control my
unit bring it back
onto the road and get back in the
pursuit
you know and so at one point uh the the
suspect went on the
on the side of the of the onto the
shoulder as he was approaching
uh motel i remember he went on the side
and of
some semis and everybody was coming on
the
so he went on the right side of the road
on the shoulder on the south shoulder
and so everybody kept going on the fast
lane i went behind and i
i was right behind the guy the suspect
vehicle i followed his same path
at one point uh i think i i'd have in
the other
motel boulevard they were able to spike
uh and get two tires use the spikes and
get to tires
and that's when the the vehicle i mean
the guy you kept accelerating but
it was just kind of sliding it was on a
side slide the whole time
i i saw the camaro getting ready to to
to maneuver the pit to do the pit
maneuver and um
and so at that point my thought is like
well hopefully he can get that
and if not i'm ready to run this guy or
take him out
but the pit worked but
at the same time i was thinking in my
mind that i was gonna still ram the
vehicle
as because if the the the camaro kind of
got stuck a little bit under the truck
as he did the pit and so it couldn't go
the side to the side like kind of where
where we usually when we pay well i
learned the pit maneuver through state
police
so when you pit you hit and you kind of
go to the side well he couldn't
and so he kind of got stuck a little bit
so at that point i didn't know whether
the car when he came to a dead stop he
was gonna
turn or do anything so i couldn't i
couldn't just go and accelerate towards
so i started slowing down i had my gun
drawn already
and at that point i remember seeing the
guy running
towards the the lcpd unit
and started shooting at the lcpd unit i
got out
and at that point i saw the lagassa fall
and that's when i started just firing my
gun towards the suspect
and uh and then so
at that point i don't know i don't know
exactly obviously how many how many
shots i took while he was standing
between the
his truck and the lcpd unit but then i
know that the guy
fell like started running towards his
towards his truck again
i figured maybe the cover or you know
get another weapon but i saw him fall as
he was falling i still took
a few shots under because i could see i
could see him laying there i could see
the truck lifted a little bit
so i could still have i still had a good
shot and so i still fire
at the rest of my shots at him and then
the gun was empty
i ran around i was going to get him
right away because i could see the gun
that was on the side
but since everybody started whoever was
there started yelling like
you know the gun and he might have
another one i kind of hesitated a little
bit
and then uh so i reloaded and then
but then somebody else i don't know who
it was came
and like kicked the gun and at that
point i went and i got the guy and i
just dragged him out of there like from
from the away from the vehicle and any
other possibility of
getting weapons but his arms kind of
just flopped a little bit so i was able
to
get on on him get an arm and on the
video i
i didn't even remember this but i guess
i gave my gun to whoever was behind me
to hold it so i can get the handcuffs
and i got my handcuffs and i handcuffed
the guy
and at that point is when i got up and
then from that moment i remember
nothing that moment after that
everything went blank and
i just like a few minutes later whatever
there was i was already like walking
like i was away from the scene and and
my best was off
and i i don't remember that and then and
then
and then after that i go forward to
where like i was
with the sergeant flores by his unit and
then lieutenant cogdell
that took told me that he was taking me
to the office
so after that it's kind of like it's a
little bit
i don't know what the hell happened
after that okay
are you okay with us going back and
asking a couple questions
yes okay
so you mentioned you were you were at
fleet uh
by the walmart when the call came in
about a pursuit
of coming from demi is that all the
information that was related at that
time at that time that's all i heard
agency assist
we pursued coming down from deming
state police involved that's that was
the
one the only thing when they dispatched
us that i remember okay
they didn't say what mile marker or
anything like that well they were saying
my markers but i don't know
i wouldn't remember but they did they
were saying my markers as they were
coming
okay and how far after that one is it
when you learned that the enemies
immediately like the next transmission
was that you know
the next transmission because i was dude
now
you know like i i remember that actually
i
when that transmission came for some
reason i made a
i made a right turn instead of going up
to i25
and i realized that and i made a u-turn
and i went back up
to i25 because i was sold like you know
like holy [ __ ] you know like
i mean i don't know what's going on you
know so okay
when the radio was relaying or dispatch
relaying the information about the
officer down
and where it was coming did they give a
description as to
who was in the pursuit like what you
guys were chasing or
what was that i remember a white a white
truck
that's that's all i remember
the information of the vehicle being
being chased or being
the pursuit the suspect vehicle being a
white truck
okay did they mention that
it was armed or anything well no yeah
yeah well they said that
the suspect was armed and and he was
actually shooting
out the window as he was driving
so then after that you you got on i-10
and you went towards
uh you're going to go to the one the
picacho exit correct
to put uh spikes but that didn't plan
out
correct so you went to the 140
no from there that's when i got into a
pursuit oh that's correct
okay so after you weren't able to deploy
spikes or anything you became the
primary correct i joined there's
and that was the primary at that point
okay um
how big of a gap do you estimate there
was between
the pursuing officers and the suspect
vehicle people
i don't know i would say maybe
in yards i would say like 20 yards maybe
okay
20 to 30 yards okay enough where like i
was able to start accelerating and
jumped in
and didn't like take anybody out but
nobody took you over
no okay
then after that is when lcpd the camaro
took you over he almost got into an
accident
so basically it was you in the camaro
for a little while
no because i uh i went into the meeting
so the pursuit get going and a few units
were still going
uh but i jumped back in and i just
started
compassing everybody because i saw the
camaro by itself chasing
you know and i'm just in my mind i was
just thinking like
like whatever the who i didn't know he
was at that point
but uh you know he he had this man said
that he was gonna take this guy out and
i was like well
that's my mind too right now so that's
where i'm gonna be at the next one
and we're gonna be like i felt like like
the other ones were a little bit
hesitant and uh
and so and i was like hell no i wasn't
gonna be hesitant you know
one of ours had already been taken out
and i wasn't gonna let that guy go at
any
time you know at any point or nothing so
i tried to get
i tried to catch up and eventually i cut
up but then you know that's when he
started
maneuvering to do the the pit so i kind
of
slowed down because i didn't know what
was going to happen at that point but
i was and then i was already i already
my gun drawn
by that point too when i came to stop i
threw i threw it in gear with
with this hand and then came out okay
so after the the pit worked and you got
out and you fired your weapon
which weapon did you fire my uh my
handgun
your handgun yes okay did you have your
uh ar
on you no okay so it was just strictly
your handgun that you fired yeah
okay and my last question is going to be
um
you mentioned that you you could see him
under the truck so
were you shooting shots like towards
under the truck
yes okay as he fell
i still shop under the truck okay
okay uh did you hit it up at any point
in time when you engaged into the
pursuit whether it be the first time
or after you've come back into the
median do you recall
either seeing hearing or feeling any
strikes or impacts from any bullets
coming to your vehicle
not in my vehicle but i did hear people
saying that
he's shooting he's shooting at us during
my
in my when i was in the pursuit of stuff
i still heard
people saying that he's still shooting
he's shooting at us and then as we went
past motel uh the units there got shot
at
apparently because i think i remember
hearing them
say we just got shot we just got shot so
okay
and just so i make sure it's clarified
you're hearing it over the radio
broadcast
yes um and then in regards to the
handgun that she utilizes the department
issued or is it your personal one no
department
um
i don't have anything else about that
part
if i can just a little bit about your
just brief uh background as far as like
your training experience outside of the
academy anything else
um special enhanced specific training
in regards to like uh pursuits or
firearms anything like that well did
with that's all i haven't received any
extra training
all my training and uh that i received
with through new mexico state police
where i received training
with a pit maneuver so i've been in
state police i was involved and i was
able to do
i i was able to utilize that maneuver
three times
um but um and then just uh the
no no extra training with that so no
extra training and then hang on
just whatever i received the state
police too like we would do
uh we would do a lot of extra training
with state police
so just went on like your basic biennium
training stuff like that and then well
and then some extra yeah we would do
like the extra like a different
from like moving moving and shooting
from
under like a car different type of
scenarios
that we would do with the police that
towards the end of
my career with state police i did a lot
of that
um okay
okay when your primary
and you're i'm assuming right behind him
um
did you ever see the firearm from the
suspect's arm
no no now when uh officer dylan
garcia got in front of you did you were
you able to see if
he because the suspect was trapping the
regard so with a firearm or anything
like that
no no okay
all right um
so just a little bit uh and what kind of
vehicle were you in
la tahoe 2018 tahoe is that a
marked unit yes it's a market okay it
has all the markings and lights on it
correct
okay and how were you dressed that day
in my class b
uniform what does that consist of
well bdus i had my black boots my
blue bdu pants my polo and then my
tactical vest
that they have issues and then my my sam
brown
okay did you were you wearing a narrow
vest yeah you mentioned something about
a vest
yes is that one also does that display
your bachelor office in correct yes
um
and there's gonna be a silly question
just but uh bear with me uh
can you describe the lighting that day
well it was bright it was bright it was
bright it was
nice beautiful sunny day clear skies
and uh were you wearing anything that
could uh
obstruct your vision or anything like
that i might have been wearing my
sunglasses but i don't even recall if i
wasn't
i usually have them okay
all right um those are all the questions
i have um
pass it on to detectives here i don't
have any
questions no sir thank you
right um do you have any questions no
no okay well debbie herrera thank you
for coming um
now in this interview now at
409 pm