SANTA FE – The commander of the downtown Veterans of Foreign Wars post has been charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon after he allegedly smashed a wine bottle over a fellow pool player’s head.
Gilbert Romero of Santa Fe was booked into the Santa Fe County Detention Center after the Monday night incident, according to court documents filed in Santa Fe Magistrate Court.
Henry Mazulis was playing pool with Romero at the VFW when, just before 11 p.m., “he was suddenly struck with a glass bottle,” Mazulis told Santa Fe police in a hospital interview.
Mazulis had been cut in the neck near the throat and an officer observed “heavy amounts of blood” on the victim’s clothing and on a man who was rendering aid, according to the documents. Romero told investigating officers Mazulis “was being disrespectful throughout the night to him and other individuals.”
Romero claimed Mazulis had pushed him but had said nothing.
A witness told police he saw Romero strike Mazulis with the wine bottle, which broke on the man’s head, the court documents state.
