Kenneth Paul Kirtland, a 52-year-old Arizona man, was arrested Saturday after breaking into the Santa Rita open pit mine in southern New Mexico and forcing a standoff with Grant County sheriff's deputies when he refused to come out, the Silver City Sun-News reported.

According to sheriff's officials, Kirtland drove his 2005 Chevrolet four-door sedan through a guarded entrance to the mine and went to the bottom of the mine's open pit where mine personnel were able to trap his car with heavy equipment until deputies arrived, the Sun-News said.

Once deputies arrived, Kirtland refused to surrender and leave the area and stayed in his car through several hours of negotiation, sheriff's Lt. Joe Sublasky told the Sun-News.

When a sheriff's Special Response Team started to move on Kirtland's car, he started to drive toward the officers and run them over, Sublasky said.

"The officers had to jump out of the way to avoid being run over," Sublasky told the Sun-News.

Officers then disabled Kirtland's car by shooting out the tires, and Kirtland was taken into custody, the paper said.

Kirtland's only explanation for the incident was that he had been kicked out of his home in Glendale, Ariz., and had been driving all night, distraught, officials told the Sun-News.

"The mine is a pretty difficult location to get to," Sublasky said. "We're really not sure why or how he ended up there."

Kirtland is currently being held on a $60,000 bond, facing five counts of aggravated assault on a peace officer, criminal trespass and resisting arrest, the Sun-News said. 

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