A St. Michaels, Arizona man, arrested June 11 by Gallup police on assaulting a peace officer and resisting arrest charges, was released from the McKinley County Adult Detention Center June 20, officials said.
Aaron Begay, 36, punched Teddie Yazzie at about 5 pm near Camille’s Sidewalk Café on South Second Street, apparently because Yazzie happened to be wearing the color black, according to a police report on the matter.
Begay, whose nickname on the street is “Ghost,” asked Yazzie where he was from, telling Yazzie, “I don’t like the color of your bandana,” the police report reads. Yazzie shrugged off Begay’s remarks, but not before Begay cold-cocked him in the face.
“(Teddy) had redness to the left side of his inner lip,” Gallup police officer Daniel Brown wrote in the report.
Brown recorded that Begay started to run away when Brown asked what happened that things came to fisticuffs. Begay was ultimately located near South Fourth Street and Aztec Avenue when Brown finally caught up with him. Brown recorded in the report that Begay was yelling and swinging his arms when Brown was trying to get information.
He appeared to have been drinking, Brown wrote of Begay’s persona.
At one point when Brown was attempting to secure a handcuffed Begay in the GPD police car, Begay uttered to Brown, “I’ll kick your ass one on one.”
Begay threatened Brown as well as Brown’s family during the detainment process. Begay was released from detention after a nine-day jail sentence imposed by Municipal Court Judge Grant Foutz, according to jail records.
By Bernie Dotson
Sun Correspondent
