Taos deputy charged in truck incident

TAOS — Taos County sheriff ’s Deputy Lorenzo Sanchez, 26, resigned this week after he was charged with 10 counts accusing him of using his patrol truck to strike a vehicle Saturday night on N.M. 68, attacking two men at a Taos residence and resisting arrest.

Sanchez faces three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; one count of battery on a peace officer; one count of aggravated DWI; two counts of resisting arrest; two counts of battery and one count of negligent use of a deadly weapon while intoxicated.

Sgt. Jason Rael wrote in a statement of probable cause that he arrived at the residence to find Sanchez bloodied and wearing a torn shirt. Sanchez said he had been involved in an argument with his girlfriend.

Sanchez smelled of alcohol and was having difficulty standing, Rael said. He conducted a field sobriety test on the deputy, who failed one of the exams and refused to take a Breathalyzer test.

Rael ordered Deputies Teddy Flores and Taylor Gwinn to take Sanchez into custody, but Sanchez resisted, according to the statement.

When Sanchez resisted a second time, a third deputy who arrived at the residence, Jose Garcia, shot him with a Taser, the statement said.

According to the court document, Sanchez’s girlfriend said she had called her mother and asked to be picked up at the deputy’s residence in Velarde after the couple had begun to argue.

After the woman’s brother and mother picked her up, Sanchez followed them in his county-owned Dodge Ram and used the truck to hit their vehicle, the statement said, adding the mother showed Rael a cellphone video of the deputy’s patrol unit striking their vehicle with its lights and sirens flashing.

The owner to the Taos residence told Rael he tried to “calm the situation down,” but Sanchez hit him in the face. A fight ensued between the two men and the girlfriend’s brother, he said.

Sanchez was taken to Holy Cross Medical Center before being incarcerated at the Taos County jail. He was arraigned Monday, and a preliminary hearing in his case is set for Oct. 20.