The weekly crime briefs are to give the students, faculty and staff at the University of New Mexico a quick look into the crimes reported on campus. They do not provide all perspectives of the incident. All of the information is retrieved through UNM Police Department incident reports.
False Imprisonment and Domestic Violence
Two women, who identified themselves as a romantic couple, engaged in a physical fight in the pediatric emergency room at the University of New Mexico Hospital on Sept. 6.
According to the police report, woman one reported that she was choked, bit and punched in the head by her partner “for no reason”. Woman two accused woman one of cheating, which was the cause of the fight according to woman one.
Woman one had a bite mark on both her left hand and right breast and had been previously checked into UNM Hospital due to injuries from a previous physical fight with woman two.
Woman two gave a contradicting statement. She confirmed that the two were in an argument but that she attempted to leave the room. This was when woman one grabbed woman two and held her in a chokehold to prevent her from leaving the room.
Woman two then bit woman one in order to be released from the hold.
A doctor in the emergency room claimed to have seen the fight and reinforced woman two’s statement, which identified woman one as the primary aggressor in the incident. The couple has also previously had domestic violence criminal charges against woman one.
The case will be sent to the district attorney's office to review for criminal charges.
Indecent Exposure and Evading Arrest
A man inside the parking structure at UNM South Campus exposed his genitals and began to masturbate to a woman waiting for the elevator on Sept. 11.
The police then chased the perpetrator towards the Center of High Technology Materials. He then crossed Avenida Cesar Chavez “with total disregard for his safety and the safety of other motorists,” according to the police report.
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He ran to a neighborhood on the west side of I-25, where UNMPD officers began to close in on him. The perpetrator then tried to fight one of the officers and again ran away on foot.
After unsuccessfully trying to pull an unknown object out of his pocket, UNMPD deployed a taser that hit the perpetrator in his side. The taser did not stop him.
Two UNMPD officers successfully handcuffed the suspect after he again tried to resist arrest. The officer reported that the perpetrator appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance.
Besides the arrest, it is unclear if any legal action has been taken against the perpetrator.
Domestic Violence
On Sept. 11, a married couple was seen engaged in a dispute in the University Family Health parking lot. The male was pulling the female’s hair and hitting her on the head.
The male said his wife had a gambling problem, and the argument arose when she wanted to sell a concho belt that was in the car. After the man threatened to leave, the woman then took the keys out of the ignition. According to the male’s statement, he pulled the woman’s hair in order to retrieve the keys.
A witness account to the altercation said the man pulled the hair of the woman when she attempted to leave the vehicle.
The woman said her husband had threatened to take her stuff and leave, prompting her to remove the keys from the ignition. This is when the male grabbed the back of her head and pulled her hair, according to the police report.
The male was arrested for battery of a household member and was later transported to the prisoner transport center on Fourth Street NW.
Makayla Grijalva is the managing editor at the Daily Lobo. She can be contacted at managingeditor@dailylobo.com and on Twitter @MakaylaEliboria
