As Española attorney Tony Scarborough was in the middle of his successful defense of Joel Montalvo May 27, Scarborough’s son was sending police on a three-hour chase around Española’s west side.
Justin Scarborough, of San Pedro, was arrested for drunk driving at 6:33 a.m. but escaped from police detention through the unlocked window of an unattended State Police car, according to court documents and State Police Lt. Dina Orozco.
“He was able to roll down the window and go out the window,” Orozco said. “He’s a small little guy and very flexible; we’re assuming he was able to slip the cuffs to the front.”
Orozco said the windows were unlocked because officer Algin Mendez, who made the original arrest, had rolled down the windows earlier that day and neglected to relock them. After preparing Scarborough for transport to jail, Mendez ran back inside the office to retrieve Scarborough’s belongings, court documents state. When he returned, Scarborough was gone.
Police followed footprint tracks south from the State Police office, but the trail petered out, Orozco said. Rio Arriba County Sheriff’s Deputies and Española Police joined in the search, but after nearly three unfruitful hours they called off the search and filed paperwork for an arrest warrant, Orozco said.
Orozco said police found Scarborough later that day at his girlfriend’s home and arrested him.
Scarborough now faces charges of aggravated drunk driving, reckless driving and escape from a peace officer in Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court. He was released May 29 on a $2,000 surety bond.
According to court documents, Scarborough was originally arrested when Mendez noticed a Chevy Cavalier driving nearly 30 miles per hour over the speed limit on Highway 84/285. The Cavalier almost struck another car, and Mendez smelled alcohol when he pulled the car over, documents state.
Mendez found multiple beer bottles on the floorboard on the passenger side of the vehicle, and Scarborough allegedly admitted to having a couple of beers before changing his story to just one beer. He failed field sobriety tests, court documents state.
Justin Scarborough could not be reached for comment.