Two kids taken to hospital in incident

By Bernie Dotson

Sun Correspondent

Gallup police remain on the lookout for a vehicle that hit two kids near the intersection of Ford Canyon Drive and East Historic Highway 66, according to a police report.

Gallup Police Officer Chris Molina wrote that on July 9 a grey four-door Dodge pickup truck struck the kids while they were waiting for their mother to unload her car.  The ages of the children in question were 2 and 12 years old, according to the police report by Molina.

The suspected vehicle was equipped with a “push bumper,” similar to the one on police cars, Molina wrote. At least one of the injured kids had to be airlifted to an...

Report: Dead man choked to death

By Bernie Dotson

Sun Correspondent

A dead body discovered off Second Street and not far from Sundance Dental isn’t the result of a homicide, but is something that is related to choking and drinking, according to a police report.

On July 7 at 3:15 pm, Officer Dwayne Holder of the Gallup Police Department responded to a report about someone laying on the ground and not breathing. Personnel from the city fire department checked the subject, but found no pulse.

“…informing me that the male subject was deceased and there was the onset of rigor mortis,” Holder wrote in the report as to what medics said.

After scouring the scene for potential...

Co-Defendant sentenced earlier in the week to 17 years in prison

ALBUQUERQUE – Dusty Chavez, 23, a member and resident of Zuni Pueblo, N.M., was sentenced today in federal court in Albuquerque, N.M., to 248 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his conviction on a second-degree murder charge.  Chavez’s co-defendant, Douglas Burt, 20, also a member and resident of Zuni Pueblo, was sentenced to 17 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release on July 12.

Chavez and Burt were arrested in Nov. 2014, on a criminal complaint charging them with murdering a man on Oct. 28, 2014, in the Zuni Indian Reservation in McKinley County, N.M.  Chavez and...

Investigation continuing, official says

The body of a man found dead north of Hassler Valley Road and not far from ATV Motorcross road has been identified as Sergio Perez-Prieto, 41.

“We have an ID on the body,” Anthony Ashley, an investigator with the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office, said. “The investigation is still open.”

The death was ruled a homicide.

Ashley said Perez-Prieto was reported missing by family members on July 4, when he left a barbecue in the Red Hills area to take a friend home. The friend was dropped off on East Hill Avenue at around 8 pm, and that’s the last Perez-Prieto was seen.

Perez-Prieto’s car was discovered July 5 in the parking lot of the...