Prosecutors are asking a judge to hold an Española man without bail pending trial after he allegedly got drunk at lunch, went back to work, choked one co-worker, attacked another who tried to stop him and then fought with police officers at his work, at their cars and at the Española Hospital.
Officer James Quintana charged Luis Mendez, 34, with two counts of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, a third degree felony; two counts of aggravated battery on an officer, a fourth degree felony; four counts of resisting arrest, a misdemeanor; four counts of assault on an officer, a misdemeanor; two counts of assault, a petty misdemeanor; and one count each of disorderly conduct, a petty misdemeanor; and criminal trespass, a misdemeanor.
Rio Arriba Magistrate Judge Alexandra Naranjo initially released Mendez, May 8, one day after his arrest, on the highest level of pre-trial supervision before prosecutor Kent Wahlquist, three days later, filed a motion for him to be held without bail.
Mendez remains in jail.
Wahlquist wrote that Mendez poses a “danger of physical harm to random people and to responding officers,” he has a long history of “consistent criminal activity,” often while on probation or pre-trial release, and that he was on conditions of release in a misdemeanor driving on a license revoked for DWI case at the time he was arrested.
A combined preliminary and dangerousness hearing was set for Thursday (5/21) in Tierra Amarilla.
Quintana wrote in a statement of probable cause that he was sent to Española Transit Mix around 2 p.m. May 7, after someone said an employee came back from lunch drunk and when they told him to leave, he started fighting with his colleagues.
When Quintana pulled up, Mendez walked toward him in an “aggressive manner,” Quintana took out his stun gun, and when officer Shaun Olson arrived, he tried to handcuff Mendez, eventually pushing him to the ground. Quintana put his knee on Mendez’s back while Olson handcuffed him. When they tried to put him in the back of a patrol car, he started fighting with them, kicking Olson three times in the chest, then started banging his head against the cage in the patrol car, Quintana wrote.
The two co-workers said Mendez walked into the building, shoved one man against a wall and strangled him with his hands. Another man tried to pull Mendez off and Mendez started attacking him, punching him in the head and body. They were separated when their manager arrived, Quintana wrote.
At the hospital, Mendez was put into a wheelchair because he refused to walk and stood up one time and tried to run away. After he was cleared for detention, he threatened officers, Quintana wrote.