By Wheeler Cowperthwaite
Special to the SUN

An Española man who led deputies on a low-speed chase after backing toward one in an effort to flee in La Mesilla, was ordered released on his own recognizance after a judge denied an attempt by prosecutors to have him held without bail pending trial.

District Judge Anastasia Martin ordered Anthony Martinez, 43, to be released under pre-trial release supervision and that he not be allowed to drive, following a combined preliminary and pre-trial detention hearing on March 16.

Martin bound over Martinez on the two felony charges that deputies brought against him: aggravated assault on an officer with a deadly weapon and aggravated fleeing an officer. She bound him over on the remaining six charges, as they were misdemeanors, and are to be bound over “by rule.”

Rio Arriba Deputy Alfonso Murillo originally arrested Martinez on March 1, on attempt to commit aggravated assault on an officer, aggravated fleeing an officer, resisting arrest, reckless driving, improper evidence of registration, illegible registration plate, no insurance and failure to register a vehicle.

Prosecutor Kent Wahlquist previously wrote, in his motion to have Martinez held without bail, that he failed to appear for a traffic case, in which a warrant was issued, and that he “poses a danger of physical harm to responding officers and the motoring public.”

Martin wrote that prosecutors failed to meet their burden “to show that the Defendant is dangerous and that no reasonable conditions of release will protect the safety of any other person or the community.”

The Chase

Murillo wrote in a statement of probable cause for Martinez’s arrest that he tried to pull him over in an old Ford with an “unreadable” license plate, and the truck stopped at the entrance to Private Drive 1311 in La Mesilla. As Murillo prepared to get out of his car, the truck backed up and he avoided his car getting hit by reversing and pulling to the right. The truck then headed down State Road 399, going 21 mph.

The truck continued the slow chase, going between 12 to 22 mph, Murillo wrote.

“The occupant appeared to be struggling to control the vehicle as it traveled north on New Mexico 399,” he wrote. “The vehicle turned onto the frontage road off 399, continuing at approximately 22 miles per hour.”

Then the truck went into the hills before coming to a stop as the driver tried to put it back into drive. Murillo got out and saw Martinez allegedly trying to roll up his window, so he broke it with his stun gun, then shot Martinez with it, before dragging him out of the truck. With the help of another deputy, Murillo arrested him.