NOT YOUR CAR
6/22, Gallup
As McKinley County Sheriff’s Office Inv. Anthony Ashley was driving by Conoco gas station, 2654 E. Highway 66, he noted an employee “who was frantically waving” him down and pointing to a white passenger car.
Ashley immediately pulled up behind the vehicle and flashed his emergency lights. The vehicle, driven by Frederick Butler of Thoreau, N.M., took off from the scene at a high rate of speed.
Butler, 32, weaved recklessly and dangerously as he headed east on State Highway 118, almost striking another vehicle before he slid sideways into a ditch, rolling the car one time at the intersection of Highway 118 and County Road 5.
“I ran to the vehicle and I (saw) the driver crawl out the driver side window and began running east in a ditch,” Ashley noted in his report, adding that Butler took his shirt off before fleeing the scene of the accident.
Two other people were in the car and paramedics were called to the scene. As he interviewed the male and female subjects, he learned that the trio had plans of stealing beer from the Conoco gas station.
Police found Butler at Gilbert Ortega’s Shell on East Highway 66. Ashley caught up with Butler at a local hospital, where he kept on insisting on using the restroom. On his fourth trip to the loo, Butler slipped away. Once again he was caught, this time in a nearby neighborhood.
Butler has a preliminary hearing in front of Magistrate Court Judge Cynthia Sanders July 5. He faces multiple charges, including DWI.
JAIL ASSAULT
6/21, Gallup
A booking room incident turned violent, briefly, when Douglas Van Dyk, who was being booked for a DWI, allegedly punched inmate Shannon Brown multiple times.
Van Dyk, 35, was sitting about 10 feet away from Brown, according to MCSO Deputy Garylle James report.
“I had looked away and I heard the male subject (Van Dyk) say ‘what is so funny’ and when I looked in that direction I saw the male subject punching Shannon Brown in the face numerous times with a closed fist,” James noted in the report.
The victim reportedly said he did not require medical attention. Van Dyk was charged with one count of aggravated battery.
