A high-speed vehicle pursuit through the city ended at the UNM Hospital parking structure Wednesday evening, and two individuals have been taken into Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department custody.
An unidentified male and female are now being questioned in the incident, which began at roughly 6 p.m. in the South Valley area, when deputies responded to a stolen vehicle report, BCSD Sgt. Aaron Williamson said.
The ensuing lockdown was contained to the UNMH parking structure, Williamson said, and police broke down the perimeter around North Campus at approximately 9 p.m. Sheriff’s deputies worked with UNM police and hospital security in the process, he said.
“Obviously, it creates a lot of challenges for us because it’s a large complex,” he said. “There are literally thousands of people coming in and out of here on a daily basis, so trying to discern who a suspect is and who genuinely has business here at the hospital, that always provides a challenge to us.”
With a sheriff’s department helicopter in pursuit, the vehicle pulled into Los Padillas Elementary School, where the subjects exited the vehicle and entered another one, Williamson said. Deputies believe the vehicle is stolen, but Williamson said that was not verified Wednesday night.
From there, the subjects tried to ram sheriff’s deputies and strike vehicles at the school before speeding through city streets, Williamson said, with the helicopter in pursuit. Deputies only engaged the vehicle directly when the helicopter had to land for refueling, he said.
“Listening to the pursuit, these individuals were driving close to 100 miles per hour through city streets after 6 o’clock, which puts everyone in the city in danger,” Williamson said. “These guys were fleeing for no apparent reason because we weren’t chasing them. We just had the helicopter above flying. It creates a very dangerous situation for us.”
Deputies lost the vehicle in the area around University and Menaul boulevards, Williamson said, before the vehicle was apparently ditched in the vicinity of UNMH and the individuals were spotted entering the parking garage.
A third individual may have been involved in the incident, Williamson said.
The Daily Lobo could not reach a UNMH spokesperson by press deadline.
J.R. Oppenheim is the managing editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at managingeditor@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim
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