It took three officers to get one drunk man into a patrol car at a local Albertsons. On March 31 around 6:39 pm, Gallup Police Officer Jarad Albert arrived at the Albertsons at 1702 East Hwy 66 after he heard about a drunk man inside a silver Jeep in the parking lot.
Albert parked his patrol car behind the vehicle. When he approached the driver side door, he saw a man drinking from a large cup. The Jeep was running.
When Albert knocked on the window, the man looked at him, while continuing to sip from his cup.
The man turned the car off and opened the window
Albert asked the man if he had a driver’s license, but received no answer. The officer began asking the man questions. Albert said the man appeared confused.
Albert asked the man to step out of his vehicle, and he even began to try to unlock the Jeep’s door from the inside. As he was feeling around for the door handle, the man grabbed his hand, squeezed his wrist, and pulled his hands from the door handle.
The man rolled up his window, but before he got it all the way up, Albert was able to reach in and unlock the door.
Albert called for backup.
The man inside the Jeep began to reach inside his pants pockets. Albert asked the man to keep his hands out of his pockets.
The man kept his hands in his pockets. Albert grabbed his left arm and found a pocket knife.
Gallup Police Sergeant Neil Yazzie arrived on the scene and tried to help Albert get the man out of his Jeep. Yazzie grabbed the man’s right arm and Albert grabbed his left, but the man continued to actively resist the officers by bracing his legs against the floorboard and pulling away from them.
Gallup Police Officer Daniel Brown arrived at the scene and was able to get into the passenger seat of the Jeep. He warned the driver that he would be tased if he didn’t get out of the car. The man still refused to leave.
The three officers got the man out of the car, and handcuffed him. A brown wallet was found in his pockets, with a license that identified him as 32-year-old Gerreitt Scott Lansing, from Mentmore.
He was taken to the McKinley County Adult Detention Center after a stop at the Gallup Indian Medical Center.
Lansing was charged with assaulting a police officer and aggravated DWI (3rd offense).
He was released on his own recognizance.
By Molly Adamson
Sun Correspondent
