New Mexico State Police officers arrested a 50-year-old Chimayó man after he allegedly ran over a man on the side of State Road 76 in Chimayó, killing him, then fled the scene.
State Police Officer Norberto Medrano-Tapia arrested Marty Sherwood on May 1 and charged him with leaving the scene of an accident causing death and failure to render aid resulting in death, after officers located the Ford Ranger alleged to be involved in Sherwood’s driveway five hours later.
By the time emergency responders started CPR, about 20 minutes after it was reported at 3:12 a.m., Jose Martinez, 79, was dead. According to the identification card in his wallet, he lived “in close proximity” to where he was hit on SR 76.
State Police officers shut down traffic in both directions while they investigated the killing.
On Monday, prosecutor Kent Wahlquist asked the Santa Fe Magistrate Court for 24 hours to decide if he will file a motion for pre-trial detention, asking to hold Sherwood without bail pending trial.
If convicted on the two charges, Sherwood would face a sentence of seven-and-a-half years.
A witness, Lee Romero, called police following the crash into Martinez and told dispatchers he saw an older-model gray Ford Ranger hit a pedestrian, who appeared to be dead, and the Ranger fled following the crash, Medrano-Tapia wrote.
“The reporting party stated he observed an early 2000s silver Ford Ranger strike the pedestrian and continue eastbound on NM Highway 76,” Medrano-Tapia wrote. “The reporting party further stated the driver pulled into the driveway of 540 NM Highway 76, exited the vehicle to inspect the truck, then re-entered the vehicle and left the scene traveling eastbound on NM Highway 76.”
Romero described the driver as 30 to 40 years old, with a slim build at 5’8” and the truck having a black tarp over the bed and a sticker in the right rear window, he wrote.
At 8:29 a.m., Officer Oshane Greene spotted a truck matching the description in the driveway of 782 SR 76 and found the driver inside the house. After reading Sherwood his Miranda rights, including the right to remain silent, officers questioned him about the crash. He allegedly said he was driving home after taking his niece to El Llano Road in Española and he hit a dog, Medrano-Tapia wrote.
“Marty Sherwood advised he stopped after the collision and observed radiator fluid leaking from the Ford Ranger,” he wrote. “Marty Sherwood stated he noticed something lying on the ground nearby and walked approximately 40 feet from his vehicle toward the area where Jose Martinez’s body was located.”
After he saw another truck in the area, he “became nervous” got back in his truck and left, driving first to his father’s house, and then to his grandparent’s house, where the truck was spotted.
“Marty Sherwood was advised that he had struck a human being and that the victim was deceased,” Medrano-Tapia wrote. “Marty Sherwood continued to state he believed he had struck a dog.”
Medrano-Tapia then arrested Sherwood.