By Curt Gustafson
Valencia County News-Bulletin
TOME, N.M. — A Valencia County sheriff’s deputy is resting at home after being shot Monday night when he was overpowered by two men who took his service weapon and fired three shots at him, striking him once.
Deputy Joe Martinez called dispatch about 8:20 p.m. saying he was stopping to investigate what appeared to be an abandoned gray or silver Honda or Chevy passenger car. The vehicle had no license plate and was parked along the Manzano Expressway near Las Maravillas, said Valencia County sheriff’s Deputy Chris Trujillo.
After getting out of his patrol car, Martinez was rushed by the men and tackled. One of the men grabbed Martinez’s weapon, a .40-caliber Glock, and fired three shots. One struck Martinez in the left shoulder, Trujillo said.
The assailants took Martinez’s car keys and opened the trunk of his police vehicle, possibly looking for guns, but were apparently “spooked” by something, ran to their car and drove off northbound, Trujillo said.
The investigation was turned over to State Police, who were investigating the possibility of a connection between Martinez’s shooting and two men who were involved in an apparent murdersuicide in Bernalillo County’s North Valley, Trujillo said.
The men who attacked Martinez were described as an older Hispanic and a younger Hispanic, which generally matches the description of the men found dead in Bernalillo County, Trujillo said.
However, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office was discounting that connection Tuesday, saying the two victims’ movements had been accounted for, and they had not been in Valencia County.
After Martinez was shot, the expressway was cordoned off at both ends, and helicopters from the Albuquerque Police Department and Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search from the air, while officers from Los Lunas Police Department, Belen Police Department and Bosque Farms Police Department joined Valencia County sheriff’s deputies in a ground search, Trujillo said.
Martinez has been with the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office for about six years, having previously worked for the Las Vegas, N.M., Police Department.
He was honored in 2007 for making the department’s most arrests for driving while intoxicated. He has also served as the head of the sheriff’s gang task force.
Martinez is the fourth Valencia County deputy to be shot in the past 11 years.
“You can’t let your guard down,” Trujillo said. “You don’t know what you’re going to be encountering when you make a traffic stop.”
Copyright 2010 Albuquerque Journal