By Uriel Garcia
The Santa Fe New Mexican
BERNALILLO, N.M. — State police say a 30-year-old Mora man fatally shot by police Tuesday was wanted on two felony warrants at the time a Sandoval County sheriff’s deputy tried to pull him over for speeding near Bernalillo. Marvin Maestas refused to stop, police said, leading officers from several agencies on a northbound chase on Interstate 25 that ended with an early-morning exchange of gunfire south of Santa Fe.
The nearly 40-mile pursuit, which started at about 1:30 a.m., reached Cerrillos Road before the pickup driven by Maestas finally came to a halt after hitting spike strips placed by officers to puncture the truck’s tires.
While trying to run away, Maestas “brandished a firearm and he and officers exchanged gunfire,” said police, who didn’t specify who shot first. State police, the lead agency investigating the incident, said the department will release other details, including the names of the officers involved, after the investigation has been completed.
In a news release, state police said Maestas was the subject of two outstanding arrest warrants, including one stemming from an Aug. 7 incident in which he is accused of fleeing from a Las Vegas, N.M, officer who had tried to pull him over. That officer shot at Maestas’ vehicle after Maestas hit the officer’s patrol car, state police said.
The Las Vegas officer, who said he saw a rifle in Maestas’ vehicle, had tried to arrest Maestas on a warrant issued in connection with a July 22 drive-by shooting in downtown Las Vegas, police said. Authorities alleged Maestas had shot at a Ford Fusion driven by a man who had his wife and their 3-year-old daughter as passengers.
Tuesday’s incident comes shortly after state Attorney General Hector Balderas created a task force on violent crimes, a group of 23 law enforcement and social services officials that he assembled after the fatal shooting of Rio Rancho Officer Gregg “Nigel” Benner following an attempted traffic stop on Memorial Day. Charged in that case is Andrew Romero, 28, who has a long criminal history, including a manslaughter conviction. Police said Romero was the subject of two arrest warrants, one alleging he committed eight armed robberies between March 22 and April 8 and a second for violating terms of his probation.
Balderas, whose task force met for the first time earlier this month in Albuquerque, has made the Rio Rancho officer’s death a rallying cry for reforms in the state’s criminal justice system.
In Tuesday’s incident, police haven’t identified two female passengers riding in the pickup with Maestas. Sgt. Elizabeth Armijo, a state police spokeswoman, said the passengers were interviewed and released.
Police said the incident began when the Sandoval County deputy saw the red pickup heading north on I-25 at more than 90 mph.
The deputy tried to pull over the truck, but it took off at speeds that reached more than 100 mph, police said. Santa Fe County deputies, Santa Fe city police and state police also became involved in the pursuit.
At one point, the driver headed north on a southbound lane “to avoid the officers and the deputies,” state police Chief Pete Kassetas said during a news conference.
After the truck finally stopped, police said, Maestas ran east toward Dinosaur Trail before he was fatally shot in a field.
“Officers and emergency medical personnel rendered medical aid to Mr. Maestas,” police said, but he died at the scene.
In recent years, state police have come under scrutiny for the way the department has handled officer-involved shootings, including the practice of investigating incidents involving the department’s own officers and the time it takes to interview officers who have fatally shot suspects.
Armijo did not respond to an email Tuesday evening asking how long it would take for investigators to interview the officer or officers who fatally shot Maestas.
In the summer of 2014, state police waited nearly two weeks before they interviewed two Española officers who were involved in the fatal shooting of Victor Villalpando, a 16-year-old El Rito boy. A grand jury later found the shooting justified.
State police have said in the past that the timing of such interviews hinges on the schedules of investigators and the officers they intend to question.
The state agency, which typically handles investigations of shootings involving officers of other departments, also has investigated other incidents involving its own personnel.
In November 2013, state police Officer Oliver Wilson shot and killed Jeanette Anaya, 39, after the Santa Fe woman led the officer on a high-speed chase through the city with a 34-year-old male passenger in her car. Wilson eventually forced her car into a masonry wall. As the officer left his vehicle to approach Anaya, investigators said, she backed up her car toward the officer, hitting his patrol car. Wilson fired several shots as Anaya drove away, and then he ran alongside her car, continuing to fire shots, a dashboard camera video recording shows.
A report by the state Office of the Medical Investigator indicated Anaya died from two gunshots wounds, one to the head and another to the back. A grand jury later found the shooting justified.
An incident that drew widespread attention after video went viral on the Internet occurred in October 2013. Then state police Officer Elias Montoya of Taos fired three shots at a minivan in which a Tennessee woman was trying to flee with her five children after refusing to cooperate with another officer who had tried to issue her a speeding ticket.
Montoya, the officer who fired at the minivan, said he was unaware children were on board and said he was aiming at the van’s rear tires. State police supervisors fired him, then offered him his job back. Montoya subsequently joined the Taos County Sheriff’s Office.
The driver, Oriana Farrell, 41, eventually was sentenced to up to six months of unsupervised probation on counts of fleeing a police officer and child abuse.
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