Police are accusing two men of making a beer run for the history books after they broke into a gas station and then crashed while fleeing the cops with a partially-opened case of Budweiser in their car.
The felony case against Israel Ballinger, 34, of Santa Cruz, and Roque Luviano, 25, of Española, was dismissed without prejudice Dec. 14, but will be presented to the Rio Arriba County Grand Jury, according to Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Hill.
Bond for each man was set at $10,000 cash-only in Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court Dec. 13 by Judge Alex Naranjo, but orders of release were filed after the charges were dropped. Hill said this is because of stricter guidelines for a defendant’s right to a speedy trial, which were set through a recent state Supreme Court ruling. She said the case would be submitted to the grand jury, which could indict the men into the state District Court system.
Española officer Moises Peña was on patrol at about 1 a.m. Dec. 9 when he heard an alarm from the Conoco Quick Stop gas station on North Paseo De Oñate, according to his probable cause statement.
Peña said he saw a black Honda Accord leave the back lot of the store and travel north on Highway 84/285, before turning south by the State Police barracks, according to his statement. Peña chased the vehicle, which drove at a speed of about 85 mph.
Peña stated the vehicle attempted to turn onto North Railroad Avenue, where it crashed into the curb and entered the parking lot to the strip mall. The vehicle stopped because its engine died.
Peña stated he and officers from Santa Clara and an agent with the Bureau of Indian Affairs surrounded the vehicle and saw Ballinger and Luviano inside.
Peña stated Ballinger said he had nothing to do with what happened earlier and Luviano acted on his own. Police found an 18-pack of Budweiser in the back, which had been partially torn open. Two Española officers went to the business and found the glass to the back door had been shattered. They said it appeared that the store’s beer refrigerator had been disturbed. Peña did not return a call seeking information on what that meant.
The officers contacted a business manager to review surveillance footage, Peña’s report states. In it, they saw a man wearing a gray sweatshirt, like the one Luviano had on, throwing a rock at the door “three or four times” and kicking the glass until it broke. They said he ran inside the store, grabbed beer from the refrigerator and exited.
Peña stated Ballinger smelled of alcohol and had watery, bloodshot eyes. The man performed a field sobriety test, but refused to submit to a blood-alcohol concentration test and gave clues that he was intoxicated. The man said he had a suspended license from a 2007 DUI conviction.
Peña accused Luviano of admitting he went into the store on his own, court documents state.
Luviano, in the dismissed case, was charged with burglary, conspiracy to commit a crime, larceny of less than $250 and criminal damage to property.
Ballinger was charged with aggravated driving while intoxicated, felony burglary, conspiracy to commit a crime, driving with a suspended or revoked license and resisting, evading or obstructing an officer. A state database shows no prior drunk driving convictions for Ballinger in New Mexico.
Ballinger and Luviano could not be reached for comment. A message left at the Conoco was not returned.