Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s deputies have issued a summons for an Española man to appear on an aggravated assault charge for an alleged road rage incident after Española City Police failed to follow up with the victim within 30 minutes.
Alexander Gutierrez, 34, has been issued a summons on a fourth-degree felony charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, after Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputy Dominic Lopez tried twice to find him at his home.
Gutierrez is set to appear in Española Magistrate Court on Sept. 29.
Lopez wrote in a criminal complaint that he got a call from the victim on his day off, July 24, reporting the road rage incident earlier that day, where he alleged Gutierrez brake-checked him, stopped his car in the middle of the road, pulled out an assault rifle and threatened him with the gun, while his “juvenile” grandson was in the car.
The victim called Lopez at 9 p.m., 30 minutes after he called 911 to report the incident, the deputy wrote.
The victim told Lopez that he was driving north on Riverside Drive when a white SUV came up behind him driving fast. It slowed down as it passed him and the driver yelled at expletive at him, seemingly as the victim was traveling in the left lane, he wrote.
When the victim got into the right lane to take a right turn, the driver of the white SUV got in front of him, then slammed on the brakes, coming to a stop, got out of the vehicle, pulled out an assault rifle and pointed it at him, before getting back into his vehicle and driving away. The victim called 911, as he continued to Harbor Freight, Lopez wrote.
The deputy called his supervisor to ask permission to investigate the case and started collecting evidence later that week, getting the license plate number for white SUV from the city police department’s license plate readers. That gave Lopez Gutierrez’s name, address, license plate and vehicle, a white Toyota, he wrote.
From there, Lopez asked for surveillance footage from Sena’s Auto, across the street. The owner agreed and Lopez saw the brake-checking and stopping, for 12 seconds, heard the yelling, but never saw anyone get out of their cars, as the view was partially blocked by a tree, he wrote.
Lopez tried to locate Gutierrez at his house twice, right after he got his address and then again after he watched the surveillance footage. He was unable to find Gutierrez either time, Lopez wrote.
It’s not clear from the court record why the case was filed on Sept. 9 and time-stamped by the court as filed. Lopez’s signature is not accompanied by a date.
If convicted, Gutierrez would face a maximum sentence of 18 months in prison.