Officer sustains minor injuries
A carjacking in broad daylight led to a police chase and the arrest of Jeremy Cowboy, of Mentmore, Feb. 15.
According to a news release, the victim, who was at Hampton Inn west, 111 Twin Buttes Rd., told Metro Dispatch shortly after 1 pm that a Native American man pointed a handgun at her, and stole her blue Ford Escape SUV.
It wasn’t long before deputies from the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office located the stolen vehicle on the east side of Gallup.
The deputies followed the Escape through the Indian Hills and Red Hills neighborhoods and initiated a pursuit.
However, they lost sight of the vehicle, but only briefly.
A short time later, Gallup Police Sgt. John Gonzales located the suspect vehicle in the area of Desert Rose Trailer Park on Gallup’s eastside.
Gonzales initiated a pursuit with the vehicle.
Meanwhile, detectives at the nearby Gallup Police Department left the station and headed to the area to render assistance. GPD Det. Victor Rodriguez was attempting to clear heavy traffic from the intersection of Williams Street and East Aztec Avenue when the suspect vehicle, traveling northbound on Williams, struck Rodriguez’s police unit in the intersection.
Rodriguez sustained minor injuries after his vehicle’s airbags deployed.
The suspect vehicle then traveled east on East Aztec Avenue and collided into Det. Victor Madrid’s police unit, but Madrid was not injured. The suspect was arrested immediately after the second collision.
Cowboy, 40, is facing the following charges: Armed Robbery, a second degree felony, Aggravated Battery on a Police Officer, a third degree felony, and Aggravated Fleeing a Law Enforcement Officer, a fourth degree felony.
The investigation is ongoing, and additional charges are pending, the news release states.
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