Man accused of dragging mom to death

SANTA FE – Deputies have arrested a man accused of killing his mother by dragging her to death while he was trying to escape from police.

Rocky Dixon, 24, was arrested this week after deputies received a tip that he was at a residence in Hernandez near Española, Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Jake Arnold said.

Arnold said deputies chased Dixon on foot and found him hiding in a bosque by the Rio Grande. He faces charges of vehicular homicide and aggravated fleeing from a law enforcement officer.

Dixon had been sought by law enforcement agencies since March 3, after a pickup he was driving dragged his 59-year-old mother, Patsy, nearly 50 feet. Patsy Dixon died recently at University of New Mexico Hospital.

She was either clinging to or was stuck to the back of Dixon’s truck as her son sped away from police after his ex-girlfriend called police following a domestic dispute.

She fell and was dragged. She was found on Popay Road off N.M. 68. Arnold said Ohkay Owingeh officers who responded to the call at the ex-girlfriend’s home on March 3 tried to run a records search on Dixon’s license plate. They reported that it was possible Patsy Dixon was trying to block the plate from the officers’ view when her son drove away and she somehow got stuck or grabbed onto to the rear of the truck.

Rocky Dixon also may have had a child in the truck with him, according to earlier reports. Arnold said deputies are still investigating that.

Authorities also have charged 39-year-old Christopher Ortiz, at whose home Dixon was allegedly staying while on the lam, with harboring a felon, Arnold said. Arnold said Ortiz was in a relationship with Dixon’s sister.

Dixon was charged with first-degree murder and tampering with evidence for the August 2009 shooting death of Ivan Garcia, 30, at the Sonic Drive-In in Española in what prosecutors called a gang-related fight. He was acquitted at a jury trial in 2010.

Dixon is being held in the Rio Arriba County jail on $150,000 cash-only bond, according to jail administrator Larry DeYapp.
— This article appeared on page C01 of the Albuquerque Journal