A Rio Arriba County treasury clerk based in Tierra Amarilla was arrested Sept. 24 right outside his workplace for drinking and driving, possession of marijuana and other charges after allegedly leaving the scene of an accident, according to State Police.
Gilbert Martinez, 22, sideswiped Henry Trujillo’s Mercury sedan in front of seven witnesses while driving his Ford Mustang in Cebolla around 1 p.m., then took off going north on Highway 84, Sgt. Ken Olson said Monday. Trujillo and witnesses identified Martinez and gave his license plate number.
Olson and other officers headed to Martinez’s place of work at the Rio Arriba County complex in Tierra Amarilla where they found his car but not him.
“He knew we were looking for him,” Olson said. “He kind of took off. He didn’t want to be located.”
Martinez was caught by police at about 1:35 p.m. walking down State Road 162 and brought back to the Tierra Amarilla Courthouse parking lot where he failed field sobriety tests, Olson said.
Officers found open alcohol containers, marijuana and drug paraphernalia in the Mustang, and charged Martinez with leaving the scene of an accident, driving with a suspended or revoked license, reckless driving, aggravated driving under the influence, possession of drug paraphernalia and possession of marijuana.
The aggravated drunk driving charge is because Martinez refused to submit to blood alcohol concentration testing, Olson said. ldez said Martinez was on annual leave the day of the incident until 2 p.m. to attend a funeral, disputing that Martinez was drunk at work.
“I can’t say he was drunk at work,” Olson said. “I can say he was drinking. He also had open containers in his vehicle. He was at work. That’s where he was located. He was working and then he departed.”
Valdez said Martinez is still working (he bonded out of Rio Arriba County Jail Sept. 25), and Treasurer Livia Olguin hasn’t decided what course of action to take as far as disciplining him. Martinez’s duties don’t require him to drive a County vehicle, Valdez said. Olguin didn’t return a call for comment.
Olson said he believed Martinez was also on probation for a previous DUI arrest, but couldn’t confirm that.
According to an online court records database, Martinez pleaded no contest to possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of alcohol by a minor, possession of marijuana and failure to stop and yield in 2007 and pleaded guilty to being under the influence of alcohol in 2009.
County Manager Lorenzo Va
Reached at work, Martinez denied having been arrested last week for drunk driving, then hung up on a reporter.