AG to review charges against Rio Arriba County sheriff
Charges filed against Rio Arriba County Sheriff James Lujan last week by the Española Police Department have been forwarded to the state Attorney General’s Office and the matter is under review, a spokesman said.
Lujan has been charged with resisting, evading or obstructing an officer, according to a criminal complaint written by Española Police Department interim Chief Roger Jimenez.
The sheriff is accused of being intoxicated March 21 when he went to the scene of a SWAT standoff involving Española police and New Mexico State Police at a home on the 600 block of Baker Lane.
According to a criminal complaint, Jimenez could smell alcohol on Lujan when the two spoke, and the sheriff was having a hard time maintaining his balance.
“Had a civilian or citizen committed the offenses Sheriff Lujan did, they would have been arrested and removed from the scene,” Jimenez wrote in the criminal complaint.
The incident started when officers went to execute a search warrant at a trailer where a suspect was believed to have stabbed someone earlier that day, according to court documents. Officers heard a gunshot and saw the suspect, Phillip Chacon, running at them holding multiple rifles before he went inside the home.
During the standoff, officers had their firearms pointed at the front door of the residence, the criminal complaint states.
Lujan walked past the police line and into the area where the guns were pointed, and despite multiple officers shouting at him to leave the area, he disobeyed their commands, the criminal complaint states.
Lujan knocked on the door in an attempt to get Chacon to come outside, according to the criminal complaint, and when he failed to leave the house, Lujan walked away.
Lujan said in a telephone interview Thursday the accusations in the criminal complaint are false. He said he was concerned about everyone’s safety in the incident.
“It is an unfortunate situation, but it is important to remember nobody is above the law in cases like this,” Jimenez said, according to a statement provided by the Española Police Department.