New details have been revealed about a suspected truck thief shot by deputies and what led up to the shooting. A witness captured the chaos on cell phone video.
A cloud of smoke formed from burnt out tires as Adrian Chacon attempted to get away from Bernaillo County deputies in a South Valley neighborhood two weeks ago.
Using PIT maneuvers, deputies pinned the stolen truck between an electrical pole and a wall, then boxed him in; but even that wouldn’t stop Chacon.
After trying to knock down the pole, he put his truck in reverse and rammed the deputy’s SUV as the deputy stood on the wall to stay out of the way.
The deputy then opened fire. Sergeant Chris Starr told investigators he fired because he feared for his life.
“There was a deputy in line of that, ‘Where was Sergeant Starr when the suspect put in reverse and rammed?’ By patrol unit in back of the offender,” Sergeant John Allen said.
Chacon was wounded by a bullet. He appeared in court last week wearing a sling.
Chacon knows the inside of a courtroom. In January, deputies said he tried to steal a motorcycle from a crash scene.
Back in 2014, Chacon sicced his pit-bull on a PNM worker who was shutting off his electricity, then pointed a rifle at her. He served a year in jail for that crime.
Chacon faced two-and-a half-years for that assault, but Judge Stanley Whitaker suspended most of the sentence and only gave him a year.
Prosecutors will file a motion to keep Chacon behind bars until trial, arguing he’s a danger to the community.
