A man accused of causing a State Police agent to wreck his motorcycle was acquitted Monday after the judge ruled no accident occurred, according to the District Attorney’s office.
Dominic Arguello, 23, of Chamisal, had been charged with leaving the scene of an accident in connection with a Feb. 20 incident in which he allegedly ran a red light at the intersection of Paseo de Oñate and Hunter Street and cut in front of agent Joey Gallegos as he drove north on Paseo de Oñate on a motorcycle, according to an Española Police report. Gallegos swerved and was thrown off the bike, hit his head on Arguello’s bumper and landed on his back just past the intersection, the report states.
Arguello fled the scene and was arrested by State Police agent Larry Aguirre minutes later.
Arguello’s half-day bench trial was held Monday in state District Court in Tierra Amarilla before Judge Sheri Raphaelson. Arguello’s attorney Andras Szantho admitted Arguello caused an accident and left the scene, but claimed he left because he was afraid of Gallegos.
“(Arguello) testified that Joey threatened him and that Joey was cussing at him and waving his arms around and threatening to attack him,” assistant district attorney Ben Ortega said. “I defeated that defense, and the judge agreed that didn’t happen.”
After closing statements, Raphaelson said she couldn’t find a legal definition of accident or collision, so she made one up, according to Ortega and Gallegos. Under her definition, the two vehicles or vehicle and person have to strike each other, and because Gallegos crashed while trying to avoid hitting Arguello’s Ford Escort that accident would not fit the judge’s definition.
Although Gallegos and witness Stanley Garcia testified Gallegos’ head hit Arguello’s car, Arguello testified he didn’t know whether Gallegos made contact with his vehicle, Ortega said.
“There was never a dispute in the whole trial whether there was an accident,” Ortega said. “The victim thought there was, the defendant thought there was, the witnesses thought there was, the defense attorney thought there was. The judge didn’t think there was. I’ve got a year of experience, but it was the most bizarre factual determination I have ever seen.”
Ortega said that because the judge’s ruling came after closing statements, he didn’t get an opportunity to dispute it.
“Basically the way that I interpreted it was that if I’m driving a car and I pass a car on a double yellow line, which is the same type of misdemeanor as running a red light, and the car takes evasive action and goes off the roadway, I’m not at fault because I didn’t actually make contact with him,” Gallegos said. It’s just a wrong ruling, a bogus ruling, and that’s just a complete injustice.”
Gallegos said he plans to file tort claims (letters stating his intention to sue) against Arguello and his brother, Shane Arguello, who was a passenger in the care next week. Gallegos said he is filing against Shane Arguello because he testified he told Dominic to flee the scene.
Raphaelson was out of the office Tuesday and couldn’t be reached for comment.
Szantho didn’t return a call for comment.