Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s deputies charged an Alcalde man with leaving the scene of an accident causing great bodily harm, a third degree felony and great bodily harm caused by a vehicle, a fourth degree felony, after he allegedly ran over his neighbor with his all-terrain vehicle.
Deputy Daniel Martinez issued a summons for Andrew Garduño, 42, following the Dec. 20 incident. He appears to have submitted the summons to the magistrate court on Dec. 22, but it was not time stamped as received until Jan. 9.
Garduño is set to appear for an arraignment on Jan. 26.
Martinez wrote that the victim, who is Garduño’s neighbor, and Garduño had been feuding over his use of the ATV, as well as his children’s use of the ATV, including complaints that the children would ride it without wearing helmets.
The initial call of a crash came in for Private Drive 1064 in Alcalde, where the victim said she was run over by a four-wheeler, and her neighbor, who ran over her, fled the scene. The ATV was nearby and still warm to the touch, Martinez wrote.
“The victim had visible tire marks on her body, and she was later transported to the Española Presbyterian Hospital for treatment,” Martinez wrote.
The victim later told Martinez, from the hospital, that she suffered a fractured tibia (shinbone), scapula (shoulder blade) and ribs.
While Garduño initially fled the scene, he came back and spoke to Martinez and told him that he was riding his ATV when his neighbor flipped him off. He said the victim’s older male friend stepped in front of his ATV and hit him in the face, at which point he lost control of the ATV and it rolled forward and ran over the victim because it was still in gear.
He told Martinez that the victim and her “companion” had been harassing him and his family since he bought the ATV.
“Andrew further stated that he left the scene because he panicked, but later decided to return after speaking with a friend who advised him to cooperate,” Martinez wrote. “He expressed regret for leaving and stated that he had no intention of harming anyone.”
He said the woman has made “derogatory comments about his deceased mother” and threatened to call the police over his son “riding a smaller bike in the area” while her companion has “blocked his path with a vehicle on prior occasions.”
All of the feuding started when Garduño bought the ATV on Sept. 19, Martinez wrote.
When Martinez interviewed the woman, she started with saying that Garduño’s son, whom she estimated to be between 7- and 9-years-old, often rides the ATV without a helmet and sometimes rides with another child as a passenger and that she has concerns for her own grandchildren, 4 and 5, “as they frequently play outside and could potentially be struck by the four-wheeler,” he wrote.
A few months prior, she approached Garduño about his children riding without helmets and claimed that he “responded with verbal insults, calling her derogatory names in both English and Spanish.”
Martinez made no mention of whether the grandchildren live with her or only occasionally visit.
She also claimed that Garduño sends people to her house late at night and they back up near her property, then leave, Martinez wrote.
The day of the incident, the woman said Garduño “appeared and began yelling profanities at her,” then got on the ATV and drove it toward her property. He then dismounted and pushed it toward her and it hit her, caused her to fall and then landed on her body and she was unable to move it off of her, he wrote.
“(Victim) reported that Mr. Garduño stood nearby, continuing to yell profanities, and did not assist her,” he wrote.
Her companion had to move the ATV off of her, he wrote.