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Deputy shoots, wounds man
LAS CRUCES — The Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office says one of its deputies shot and wounded a 25-year-old man who is now hospitalized and in custody.
The department says the deputy and the man exchanged gunfire about 3:30 a.m. Friday after the deputy pulled over to check on a vehicle stopped on the side of the road.
According to the Sheriff’s Office, the unidentified man ran off but was arrested a half-mile away. He was then taken to an El Paso hospital.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reported that schools in the area were affected by traffic restrictions during the post-shooting investigation.
The Sheriff’s Office said its professional standards unit will conduct an internal investigation while a multiagency task force conducts a criminal investigation.
Suspect in shooting arrested
Officers used a Taser to capture a fleeing man who they say accepted a gun from a man who had just shot and wounded a suspected auto burglar.
Police said Thomas Buric, 23, fired at least two shots at suspected auto burglars as they drove away, striking Daniel Quintana, 32, as he and a passenger fled in Buric’s girlfriend’s red sedan. Quintana is in the hospital and is expected to survive, and he’ll be booked on auto burglary charges when he’s released, police said.
After Buric fired at the car, police said, he handed the gun to Brandon Roberts. Roberts then fled from police and broke into two apartments to avoid going back to prison, police said.
Police used a Taser on Quintana to arrest him as he ran away, police said, and he was taken into custody with Buric’s gun.
Each suspect has been booked into the county jail on shooting, weapons or auto theft charges.
Police getting defibrillators
A donation from the Heart Hospital of New Mexico Foundation and Lovelace Medical Center will help State Police purchase defibrillators.
The $15,000 donation was announced Friday. Police will be presented with a check from the two organizations during a ceremony in Albuquerque on Tuesday.
About the size of a laptop, the devices deliver an electrical current through the chest to the heart to correct a critically irregular heartbeat.
State Police will provide the defibrillators first to officers in rural areas, where waiting time for emergency medical crews to arrive becomes a critical factor in whether a heart attack victim survives.
Crackdown on cellphones
LAS CRUCES — Las Cruces police handed out 126 citations in five hours during a traffic enforcement operation, with nearly half the tickets issued for illegal cellphone use.
Las Cruces prohibits cellphone use while driving within city limits unless the driver is using a hands-free device.
According to the Las Cruces Sun-News, other citations were issued for failure to provide proof of insurance, expired license plates or driving without a license.
Seven drivers were ticketed for failing to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk.
The enforcement operation was conducted Thursday on a block of University Avenue near where a community college instructor was killed while in a crosswalk in January.
— This article appeared on page C2 of the Albuquerque Journal
