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A Santa Fe police officer and an uninvolved driver died today in a crash on Interstate 25 while police were chasing a man suspected of kidnapping a woman in the city, authorities say. The interstate, along with parallel Old Las Vegas Highway, remains closed between Santa Fe and Eldorado and the suspect apparently escaped on foot.
Police said in a statement issued this afternoon that multiple personnel from the Santa Fe Police Department, Santa Fe Fire Department, Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, Santa Fe County Fire Department and New Mexico State Police were working north of Old Pecos Trail and consider it an “active crime scene.”
Police have asked area residents to stay home as they search the area for the suspect.
The incident began when the Santa Fe Regional Emergency Dispatch Center received a report shortly after 11 am of a male armed with a knife taking a vehicle occupied by a woman.
“Soon after at 11:14 a.m. SFPD located the vehicle near Sawmill Road and St. Francis Drive. Officers attempted to stop the vehicle and the driver fled in the vehicle,” reads the statement.”While eluding, the driver traveled on to Interstate 25 at St. Francis Drive, traveling northbound in the southbound traffic. Between the Old Pecos Trail exit and the Eldorado Exit, the driver got on to the northbound lane of traffic traveling southbound. A crash occurred at Mile Marker 286 in the northbound lane. The crash involved at least four vehicles; two Santa Fe Patrol Units, the fleeing vehicle and an uninvolved vehicle.”
The female victim exited the fleeing vehicle and was taken to a local hospital. State Police Chief Tim Johnson identified Santa Fe Police Officer Robert Duran as the 43-year-old officer who died in the crash during a televised news conference around 7 pm and said State Police will answer the city’s calls for service on Thursday.
Sylvia Martinez, who works the front desk at El Gancho Fitness Swim Club, tells SFR the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office called the business and “asked that our business be put in shelter in place,” meaning the doors are locked and no one can go in or out.
Harry’s Roadhouse got the same call from the sheriff’s office at around noon, Mikaela McCray, a host at the restaurant, tells SFR. A few dozen people who were there eating decided to leave, after which restaurant staff locked the front doors.
Santa Fe Public Schools Spokesman Cody Dynarski tells SFR that none of the public schools are closed in response to the crash and “everyone is safe.” He adds that some students on buses returning to El Dorado Community School from a band function in Los Alamos were delayed by the crash, but “they’re being rerouted back to school.”
Dynarski adds that time of dismissal for schools has not changed, and while some buses might be delayed by road closures, staff will remain on sight until all children have been picked up by parents or guardians.
Mayor Alan Webber issued a statement noting the tragic loss of both “a devoted police officer who gave his life in the line of duty and in service to this community” and an “innocent civilian.”
“Let there be no doubt that the combined law enforcement officers who are now working on this will find the suspect.” Webber wrote. “Justice will be done. I want to thank everyone in all of the law enforcement agencies and in the law enforcement community who are stepping up to help and who offered their support in this difficult time.”
State Police also issued a lockdown order for Waldorf School, according to a Tweet from the agency that said students would not be released until “further notice,” the announced the order had been lifted around 6 pm.
Bella Davis and William Melhado contributed reporting.
Editor’s note: An early version of the story gave the wrong name for the road that parallels I-25.
