THREATENED WITH A GUN
Gallup, April 21
A couple on a leisure walk encountered a scary situation when a man pulled a gun on them, after nearly striking the duo with his car.
On April 21, Gallup Police Officers Ryan Boucher, Christopher Dawes, Jarad Albert, and Lt. Mark Spencer were dispatched to the Larry Brian Mitchell Recreation Center, 400 Marguerite Franco Dr., in response to a report that a man had a gun.
When Boucher arrived around 2:55 pm, Dawes informed him that Richard Nolasco, 27, from Gamerco, had a gun in his car.
Boucher left the scene to go talk to the people who had called about Nolasco, to get their side of the story. When he got to the witnesses’ house, a female witness rode up on her bike.
The woman explained that she and her husband had been on a walk when a beige SUV almost hit them.
The witness said her husband began yelling at the man in the SUV (Nolasco), and that’s when Nolasco pointed a handgun at the couple through the windshield of his SUV. He then put the gun down, deciding to just point finger guns at the couple.
According to Boucher’s criminal complaint, the woman said Nolasco was yelling at her husband, saying he would kill him.
After talking to the witnesses, Boucher went back to the rec center and met with Nolasco.
Nolasco explained that he’d been heading to the rec center to work out. According to Nolasco, as he was driving to the gym, he encountered a couple, and the man began yelling at him telling him he needed to watch where he was driving.
Nolasco said he went to park his car in a different spot, but the man followed him. He said the man called him “a pussy.” He said he was worried the man was going to damage his SUV.
Boucher searched Nolasco’s car for the gun and found it in the center console with a loaded magazine. He arrested Nolasco for aggravated assault. Nolasco’s preliminary hearing was on May 4.
OUT FOR REVENGE
Thoreau, April 20
A Thoreau man with multiple warrants decided to take someone’s truck because he thought they had stolen his grandma’s truck.
On April 20, around 4:30 pm, New Mexico State Police Officer Brian Sanchez was on-duty driving through Thoreau when he recognized a man who had multiple warrants out for his arrest.
The man, Darius Dixon, 22, from Thoreau, was driving a white pickup truck and Sanchez watched as he turned onto Rose Street. Sanchez knew Dixon lived at 40 Rose St., so he followed him to his house.
Once he got to his house, Dixon got out of his truck and took off running down an alley towards Red Fern Avenue.
A man waved Sanchez down and said that Dixon was in his backyard hiding under a trailer.
As Sanchez approached the trailer, he saw Dixon crawl out from under it and try to run off, but the man who owned the trailer was able to stop him.
Sanchez arrested Dixon and placed him in the back of his patrol car. More NMSP officers arrived on scene, including Officer Miko Garcia, who told Sanchez that the pickup truck Dixon had been driving had been reported stolen.
According to Sanchez’s criminal complaint, when he told Dixon that the truck was reported as stolen, he claimed that he’d gotten it from a friend named “Bucky.”
Sanchez asked Dixon why the truck’s ignition was punched/broken, and Dixon explained that he’d lost the key.
Meanwhile, the truck’s owner came and picked up the truck and Dixon was taken to the Milan Police Department’s Office.
Soon after the incident, the man who had helped detain Dixon called Sanchez and told him he found a substance underneath his trailer where Dixon had been hiding. It was later determined that the substance was just over 27 grams of crystal meth.
Back at the Milan Police Department, Dixon explained to Sanchez that he had stolen the truck from “Bucky” for revenge.
Dixon was charged with receiving or transporting a stolen vehicle, possession of a controlled substance, no driver’s license, no registration, and no proof of insurance. His preliminary examination was on May 4.
HIDING IN THE BATHROOM
Gallup, Feb. 15
A Gallup man may have thought hiding out in a gas station bathroom would save him from a drug charge.
On Feb. 15, around 6:16 am, Gallup Police Officer Francis Collins was dispatched to the Speedway North, 701 U.S. Highway 491, because a man had locked himself in the gas station’s bathroom and was refusing to leave.
When Collins arrived at the scene, he knocked on the bathroom door and explained who he was. A man replied saying he wasn’t going to come out. Collins then went to use the restroom’s key to unlock the door, and that’s when the man said he was just washing his hands and he’d be out shortly.
When the man, who was identified as Herbert Yazzie, 26, from Gallup, came out, he agreed to leave the gas station.
As Yazzie was walking out of the bathroom, he dropped a syringe. He tried to pick it up and put it in one of his socks, but Collins told him to drop it and then took him to his police car.
Yazzie tried to say the syringe was for his diabetes, but he was unable to tell Collins what type of diabetes he had, who his doctor was, or where he gets his prescription.
According to Collins’ criminal complaint, Yazzie eventually told him the syringe had meth in it.
Once he tested the syringe for meth at the Gallup Police Department, Collins arrested Yazzie for possession of a controlled substance.
Yazzie’s preliminary examination was on April 6.
PUNCHING A NURSE
Gallup, Feb. 10
Another Gallup Indian Medical Center nurse was attacked by a patient.
On Feb. 10, around 12:35 am, Gallup Police Officers Patrick Lago and Matthew Strandy were dispatched to the Gallup Indian Medical Center, 516 E. Nizhoni Blvd., because a woman had punched a nurse.
When Lago arrived at the emergency room, he found several nurses surrounding a woman, who was later identified as Kyleigh Garter, 18, from Naschitti, N.M. Garter was strapped down to a bed with restraints, and she was screaming at the nurses.
Largo was able to talk to the woman Garter attacked. She explained that Garter had been brought in for abdominal pain.
The victim explained that another nurse tried to wake Garter up, and when she woke up Garter tried to hit the nurse. The victim said she told Garter not to hit her coworker.
The victim said she was standing on Garter’s right side when she balled up her fist and swung at her head. Garter punched the victim once, hitting her right ear.
According to his criminal complaint, Largo noticed that the victim’s ear was still red.
The woman said that after Garter punched her she tried to get off the bed and lunge at her again, but the other nurse was able to hold Garter back.
The other nurse backed up the victim’s statement.
Largo arrested Garter and charged her with battery on a health care worker. Garter’s preliminary examination is scheduled for June 8.