An Ohkay Owingeh man is facing two felony counts of battery on an officer after he was ejected from the Española Valley High School graduation on May 23 and allegedly fought officers after he tried to push through them, as they blocked him in.
Officer J. Quintana charged Jose Maestas, 41, with two counts of battery on an officer, six counts of resisting arrest and one count of disorderly conduct.
Quintana was at the graduation, patrolling at the request of school officials, when he was called over by a security guard who was trying to remove some people from the second story railing, he wrote in a criminal complaint.
Maestas allegedly shoved the guard and when Quintana tried to talk to him, Maestas told him he couldn’t hear him and walked away. Quintana followed and Maestas said he was angry he was the only one removed, the officer wrote.
As he became angrier, Maestas tried to walk away from Quintana and tried to push his way through two Santa Clara Tribal Police officers, who tried to stop him from leaving. Then, Maestas allegedly shoved one officer and six officers descended on him. He tried pulling away from the mass of officers and kicked Quintana’s leg. Quintana then arrested him and “forcibly” removed him from the property with the help of other officers, Quintana wrote.
While Quintana pressed charges against Maestas, the school security officer did not.
For unknown reasons, Quintana did not file the charges in court until May 27, four days after the arrest.
Los Alamos Magistrate Judge Catherine Taylor released Maestas on his own recognizance and ordered him to report to pre-trial services.
Pre-trial services asked for a hearing on June 11 because Maestas never reported as required on June 3, they didn’t have a phone number for him and had no idea where he was.
Taylor set the conditions of his release on May 28.