Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s deputies charged a Hernandez man with trying to escape from custody after he tried to run from the Española Hospital, where he was in the intensive care unit for a bad case of the flu.
Deputies arrested Daniel Martinez, 41, on Dec. 30 at his house in Hernandez on bench warrants issued in two District Court cases.
Hospital staff wouldn’t clear him for incarceration and instead sent him to the ICU because of respiratory issues, Deputy Nicholas Diaz wrote in a criminal complaint for Martinez’s arrest.
Doctors did not want to discharge Martinez and asked that he not be handcuffed so he could use the bathroom, walk around and shower as needed.
Martinez allegedly tried to escape on Jan. 2, while Diaz was in the bathroom. Diaz wrote he heard a nurse yell that Martinez was running after letting out “a blood-curdling scream,” Diaz wrote.
Martinez tore off all the medical equipment while Diaz ran after him, noting that his body camera was turned off “due to the several hours of being idle watching over Daniel in his room,” he wrote.
Diaz ran down two long hallways, directed by medical staff, then down two flights of stairs before he saw Martinez pulling away from a hospital security officer. Diaz drew his stun gun and ordered Martinez to get on the floor. The security officer helped handcuff him.
City police officers and deputies responded to help and they put Martinez in leg restraints, then wheeled him back up to his room.
The attending doctor ordered Martinez to be discharged “after seeing what he was capable of doing (running on foot from law enforcement) without his oxygen levels dropping,” Diaz wrote.
District Judge Anastasia Martin issued bench warrants in his two District Court cases, where he is charged with trafficking and child abuse and with trafficking, after “failure to comply with Pretrial Service requirement(s) in the second case. See attached report.”
The report is not attached to either bench warrant.
Prosecutors filed on Jan. 5 to have Martinez’s pretrial release revoked, writing that he tested positive for amphetamine, methamphetamine and fentanyl on Sept. 25, then fled while hospitalized for the flu.
The pre-trial services violation report referenced by prosecutors was never entered into the court record.
Pretrial Services Officer Felix Sena did file a report with the court following Martinez’s arrest for trying to flee the hospital, noting his arrest and previous violations on Sept. 19, for a positive drug test where no judicial action was requested and a Sept. 25 positive drug test where the judge issued a warrant.
He waived a preliminary hearing in both cases.