A man who identified himself as a Santa Fe High School teacher allegedly tried to run over an Española Police officer Dec. 13 after she gave him a speeding ticket.
Patrick Barnes, 56, of Santa Fe, was caught traveling 13 or 14 miles per hour over the 45-mile-per-hour speed limit on Paseo de Oñate near Industrial Park Road in Española, Española Police officer Emily Montoya said. Montoya wrote Barnes a $100 citation, which he grabbed from her hand before saying, “(Expletive) merry Christmas to you too,” and speeding off, Montoya said.
About an hour later, around 12:30 p.m. the same day, Montoya was on the northbound shoulder of Riverside Drive citing another driving for speeding near the Mustang gas station.
“I hear this yelling going on,” Montoya said. “‘(Expletive) you, you (expletive)’ and he’s switching lanes getting closer to me going, ‘I’m going to (expletive) kill you.’ I kept watching him because I thought, oh no, this is unusual.”
Barnes, who had been traveling southbound, allegedly made a U-turn and headed toward Montoya. She leaned into the Cadillac she had pulled over as Barnes swept by, cursing and flipping her off, Montoya said.
Montoya then got into her patrol car and followed Barnes, who turned into the San Pedro Plaza parking lot. She trapped him in a dead end in the lot and called for backup.
Montoya and officer Daniel Espinoza removed Barnes from his pickup truck and had it impounded. By this time Barnes’ attitude had changed, Montoya said.
“He was like, ‘I’m sorry, I lost it, I was so mad to see you giving someone else a ticket I figured you got paid per ticket,’” Montoya said. “He made a statement like he was on the edge because he hadn’t been drinking in two weeks.”
While Montoya was writing her report, another officer told her Barnes wanted to talk to her, saying he was a Santa Fe High School teacher and was worried about his teaching license. Barnes asked Montoya’s forgiveness — but she arrested him and charged him with a felony, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon (the truck) and a misdemeanor, reckless driving.
Santa Fe School District officials could not be immediately reached for comment about the arrest.
“All these years of law enforcement and corrections I have never had anybody try to attack me or confront me off duty or on duty like that,” Montoya said. “He went after me for a freakin’ speeding ticket — it was only like 100!”