Police: Breast-feeding spurred assault on mom
‘Jealous’ suspect remains at large
SANTA FE – A jealous Rafael Orozco was “so angry” that the mother of his newborn daughter was breast-feeding the infant in front of a male doctor at Taos’ Holy Cross Hospital that he punched the woman in the mouth and also slapped the baby, according to an incident report from the Taos Police Department.
Orozco, 22, was still on the run Friday after he battered the woman, fought with security guards and escaped after claiming he had a gun late Wednesday night. The hospital, which went into emergency mode with restricted access all day Thursday, resumed normal operations early Friday.
According to a Taos Police Department incident report obtained by the Journal on Friday, Orozco, 22, began calling the mother names and was degrading her because she was breast-feeding their daughter, who had been born earlier Wednesday at Holy Cross, and “exposing herself to the male doctor who had come in to check on her and the child” in the hospital’s labor and delivery unit.
The report says the woman, who has a different last name than Orozco, is Orozco’s wife, but he has also been described by police as her boyfriend. She told police that Orozco “is a very jealous person.”
Orozco punched the woman in the mouth with the baby beside her in the hospital bed, giving her a bloody lip, and “slapped the baby on the head” while she was being held by the mother, the report states. Orozco is also said to have grabbed the woman by the throat and left markings on her neck.
A security guard was able to
restrain Orozco but let him go after Orozco reached for his side and said he had a gun. The guard told police that he was hit in the ribs while trying to restrain Orozco and complained of having pain and difficulty breathing.
The 23-year-old woman battered by Orozco told police that she was concerned that he would go to her mother’s home and get their other daughter. State Police officers were sent to that house, but Orozco wasn’t there.
Orozco has been in trouble with the law several times over the past three years. Court records show that a man with his name and birth year pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon in 2013 and pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property and battery on a peace officer in two separate cases in 2014.
Court record also indicate that a probation violation was filed in the receiving stolen property case Sept. 16 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He was released from state prison in May and from the Taos County jail in June 23, according to the state Corrections Department.