An El Paso man was arrested Thursday evening on charges of receiving stolen property, evading a police officer, and injury to a police dog after a pursuit that crossed state lines and involved three law enforcement agencies.
Just before 3 p.m., Doña Ana County Sheriff’s deputies were alerted that Jose Antonio Garcia, 23, had evaded an El Paso County Sheriff’s deputy after the deputy attempted to make a traffic stop in Canutillo. Garcia was allegedly driving a white, four-door Mitsubishi that had been reported stolen in El Paso on March 29, 2015.
Garcia and his passenger, identified as 29-year-old Mayra Cristina Marquez, ended the pursuit in the 100 block of Feathergrass in Berino just before 5 p.m.
According to El Paso police, Garcia and Marquez have outstanding warrants in Texas for aggravated robbery. The car they were in was also reportedly used in the crime. Garcia and Marquez reportedly painted the hood and trunk black in an effort to disguise it.
After the pursuit, Marquez fled on foot, but officers with the Las Cruces Police Department, who were called in to assist with their K-9 units, found Garcia hiding under a mobile home.
Before he was taken into custody, Garcia allegedly hit two police dogs with a two-by-four piece of wood, and allegedly kicked one of them repeatedly in the head.
The police dogs were not seriously injured.
Garcia was arrested and taken to the Doña Ana County Detention Center, where he remains jailed on charges of receiving stolen property, resisting arrest, and two counts of injury to a police dog.
In New Mexico, injury to a police dog is a petty misdemeanor, unless there are aggravated injuries.
Marquez remains at large. According to law enforcement, Marquez has changed her appearance recently. She is described as just over five feet tall with a medium/thin build, a shaved head and facial piercings.
Anyone with information on Marquez’s whereabouts is asked to call 911.
Information from Dona Ana County