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Thursday, Mar 28th

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Weekly Police Activity Report

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The first few hours of 2018 were exciting for McKinley County and Gallup Police officers. At about 4:14 am on New Year’s Day, McKinley County Sheriff’s Dep. Roxanne Slim was sent to Flying J in Jamestown over a domestic dispute in the parking lot. Slim detained Daniel Yazzie at the scene, who told officers that the woman “attempted to crawl on [him] in the driver seat. To stop her [he] kept pushing her away and [his] bracelet scratched her forehead,” according to the police report.

The woman denied that any altercation took place, although she had scratches and bruises on her face. Officers found that Yazzie had a bench warrant in Gallup, and was booked. The woman was transported to detox.

Also on the morning of the New Year, at about 2:48 am, MCSO Dep. Johnson Lee witnessed a truck with no headlights speeding out of All Star Towing. The truck refused to stop even when Lee turned on his emergency lights in pursuit.

The truck drove down Crestview Road and entered “straight to the back of a residence,” according to Lee’s police report. Two men wearing black exited the car and fled on foot. Lee and his patrol K9 Max ran to follow them, but because of the darkness it was difficult to discern where they might have gone. Lee gave out descriptions of the two men to other officers, noting that they were approximately 5’9” and 5’10”, wearing black jackets and black beanies.

Lee went to inspect the abandoned truck and located its tow tags. He also sent an officer back to All Star Towing to check out any damage. The fence at that location had reportedly sustained about $1,500 worth of damage. No one appeared responsible for the car after it had been towed, and it was auctioned off. The suspects have not been caught.

Back in 2017, on Dec. 27 around 7:40 pm, MCSO Dep. Lorenzo A. Guerrero was sent to the Navajo Estates Fire Department because of a battery. There, he met with the victim, 24, who told officers that she was on Tso Drive when she was attacked by a family member. The attacker, 20, allegedly began insulting the victim’s small children, causing the victim to yell back and escalating the fight. The attacker then pushed her and kicked her in the back, according to the victim. The victim had recently undergone two back surgeries prior to the assault.

The next morning, officers dispatched to the shared home of the victim and the alleged attacker. Once there, they found the woman who was thought to be the attacker, but found that she too had noticeable scratching on her face and swelling around her eye. The woman claimed that the boyfriend of the woman who reported the crime had attempted to separate the two during the fight, and that he had caused the injuries. This woman was taken to the hospital.

The two women, who had been living together prior to the fight, decided to find new arrangements, and the original complaining victim returned to the home to retrieve her belongings that day. Officers photographed the second woman’s injuries but made no arrests. No further actions were taken that are known at this time.

On Dec. 26, about 5:25 pm, reports came in to Metro Dispatch that a paramedic was being attacked. MCSO Dep. Jonathan Todachine Jr. observed two Thoreau EMS employees and one other man standing against a wooden railing. They appeared not to be arguing or fighting.

Todachine could smell alcohol coming off of one of the men, and he brought him into his unit. The man appeared quite intoxicated, having trouble balancing and slurring his words, according to the report.

The victim who called in to report the crime claimed that the man in the patrol unit had swung at him and hit him with his elbow, but that he was OK now. Todachine did not observe any injuries.

The witnesses on the scene did not feel that the strike was intentional. No arrests were made, but the man in the police unit was taken to detox.

On Dec. 19, a victim of telephone fraud reported his crime to MCSO, reporting to have lost $1,686 transferred via Western Union on Dec. 11. It was on Dec. 11, around noon, when the victim received the call from an unknown man claiming to be a lawyer, and telling the man that a relative of his was incarcerated and needed bond money.

The man immediately transferred the amount asked. The next day, the victim received another call from the same man, who said the bond had increased and that he needed more money. The victim at this point realized a fraud had occurred and contacted Western Union to file the claim.

Officers were unable to get any further information from Western Union. There are no suspects at this present time.