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Duran, Lovato died in head-on crash during high-speed chase
Court documents filed yesterday provide details into the fatal crash March 2 in Santa Fe that resulted in the deaths of Santa Fe Police Officer Robert Duran and retired Las Vegas firefighter Frank Lovato. State police over the weekend arrested Jeannine Jaramillo, 46, on two counts of felony murder; receiving or transferring a stolen vehicle; aggravated fleeing from a police officer and tampering with evidence. Jaramillo originally claimed to have been kidnapped and carjacked, a story police say she fabricated. Since her arrest, Jaramillo also has been charged with possession of a controlled substance after a search at the jail found about a gram of methamphetamine and an unopened syringe hidden near her genital area.
According to the criminal complaint, the incident began at about 11:30 am last Wednesday when Jaramillo drove a White Chevy Malibu into the Vizcaya apartment complex and asked a pedestrian to call 911, saying a male in the passenger seat was armed with a knife and wouldn’t let her leave the car. Multiple police responded to the 911 call and attempted to stop the vehicle at St. Francis Drive and Sawmill Road. Rather than stop, Jaramillo led police on a chase that reached 90 mph or faster on I-25, traveling against traffic. Numerous vehicles were forced to maneuver their vehicles to avoid a head-on crash, and First Judicial District Attorney Mary Altwies-Carmack says she plans to add charges of “depraved mind first-degree murder” to the charges, as well as two counts of great bodily harm by vehicle due to injuries sustained by two other drivers. Near mile post 285 on I-25 in the northbound lanes, Lovato was traveling northbound in the left hand lane and avoided a head-on crash with the fleeing suspect vehicle that swerved around his pickup truck. As the pursuing officers followed Jaramillo’s fleeing Malibu, Lovato crashed head on with a marked police vehicle Duran was driving, resulting in both of their deaths. Carmack-Alwies tells the Santa Fe New Mexican police won’t face any criminal liability for the way it conducted the chase, telling the paper: “There is an exception if a person is in a potentially life-threatening situation. The information they had at the time was this was a kidnapping in progress. I don’t believe they violated the statute or their own policy.” An SFPD spokesman tells the Albuquerque Journal the incident will be reviewed after State Police complete its investigation.
In other crime-related news, as of press time, New Mexico State Police had released few details in the city of Santa Fe’s first homicide of the year: a shooting yesterday near the intersection of St. Michael’s Drive and Cerrillos Road. A state police spokesman told the Santa Fe New Mexican last night a victim had been shot and died and a suspect had been detained.
Supreme Court nixes grand jury investigations of governor
The state Supreme Court yesterday ruled that citizen-initiated petitions to convene grand juries to investigate Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic are legally invalid. As such, the court issued an order directing District Court judges to deny grand jury petitions filed in Chaves, Eddy and Lea counties, along with any similar petitions elsewhere in the state “because they only describe lawful, noncriminal activity,” which is outside the boundaries of what a grand jury can investigate. As a news release notes, the court’s previous rulings found the governor “acted lawfully and within the scope of her executive authority when she declared a public health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic and delegated power to the Secretary of Health to further issue emergency orders to protect public health and safety.” Moreover, close to 30 years ago, the court ruled judges must determine whether a grand jury petition is valid “on its face” and specifies “an area of inquiry that colorably lies within the permissible scope of a grand jury inquiry.” Citing that ruling, the court ruled yesterday that grand jury petitions involving the governor’s pandemic response were “facially invalid.” Lujan Grisham filed a case in the Supreme Court last November challenging the validity of three citizen grand jury petitions; her lawsuit notes difficulties in determining how many petitions had been filed or how to respond to them because the proceedings are sealed and confidential. As such, the Supreme Court’s ruling also directs a judicial committee to consider possible rule changes to require a notice to the public official who is the target of a grand jury petition and allow that individual to intervene in the case.
Santa Fe grows more solarized
The City of Santa Fe says 39 more homes will soon have solar energy systems as a result of its Solarize Santa Fe pilot program. According to a city news release, the solar power generated from these new installations will eliminate about 220 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, the equivalent to driving 547,000 fewer annual miles or planting 3,600 trees per year. “The fight against climate change is urgent and local,” Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber said in a statement. “Here in Santa Fe, Solarize Santa Fe has made a real impact, helping even more of our residents go solar. And it supports equity, helping those who may face financial challenges to solarize on their own.” The city partnered with Santa Fe Public Schools to reach potential customers who would benefit from the pilot, which uses solar energy bulk-purchasing to make the solar installations accessible across income levels. The city also worked with the Sierra Club and the Coalition of Sustainable Communities-New Mexico to package low-cost solar installation with low-interest loans, and was one of more than 20 local governments across 15 states that participated in a “Solarize cohort” led by RMI and the World Resources Institute. According to a statement from RMI Senior Associate Ryan Shea, Santa Fe’s solar campaign “had one of the highest conversion rates of resident sign-ups.” The city says it will be pursuing a larger program to add more homeowners this year.
COVID-19 by the numbers
New cases: 694; 513,994 total cases
Top three counties: Bernalillo County with 214; Doña Ana County with 67; San Juan County with 47
Santa Fe County: 39
Santa Fe Mayor Alan Webber yesterday extended the city’s COVID-19 emergency proclamation, but included new orders directing the city manager to increase the level of in-person city services and access to facilities to the extent possible in a safety-conscious manner, including a transition back to public meetings in person when it is no longer difficult or impossible to do so. The order also prohibits landlords from taking action to evict tenants unable to pay rent as a result of the pandemic until the state Supreme Court lifts its injunction against evictions or until March 31, whichever is latest.
Breakthrough cases: According to the most recent weekly vaccine report, between Jan. 31-Feb. 28, 48% of COVID-19 cases were among people who had not completed a primary vaccination series; 27.9% were among those who had completed the series but had not received a booster; and 24.1% were among those who were fully vaccinated and boosted. For hospitalizations, those figures change to 65%, 18.3% and 16.7%. The percentages shift to 63.1%, 20.7% and 16.2% for fatalities.
Deaths: 16, 11 of them recent, including two females from Santa Fe County, one in her 30s with underlying conditions and one in her 70s who had been hospitalized and had underlying conditions. Santa Fe County has now had 250 fatalities; there have been 6,988 statewide. Hospitalizations: 197
Vaccinations: 91.9% percent of adults 18 years and older have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 78.1% have completed their primary series; 44.5% of adults 18 years and older have had a booster shot; 12-17-year-old age group: 71.1% of people have had at least one dose and 61.1% have completed their primary series; Children ages 5-11: 38.6% have had at least one dose of the Pfizer vaccine and 29.6% have completed their primary; Santa Fe County: 99% of people 18 and older have had at least one dose and 87% have completed their primary series.Resources: Vaccine registration; Booster registration Free at-home rapid antigen tests; Self-report a positive COVID-19 test result to the health department; COVID-19 treatment info: oral treatments Paxlovid (age 12+) and Molnupiravir (age 18+); and monoclonal antibody treatments. Toolkit for immunocompromised individuals. People seeking treatment who do not have a medical provider can call NMDOH’s COVID-19 hotline at 1-855-600-3453.
You can read all of SFR’s COVID-19 coverage here.
Listen up
A recent article in the New England Journal of Medicine by two University of New Mexico scholars explores the effectiveness of Indigenous communities’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was hit particularly hard, but also has had the highest vaccination rates of any racial or ethnic group. The most recent episode of KUNM’s University Showcase talks with two of the study’s co-authors, political science professor Gabriel Sanchez, the founding Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Endowed Chair in Health Policy at UNM, and Raymond Foxworth, a citizen of the Navajo Nation and a visiting scholar in UNM’s political science department.
Drink up
National Margarita Day has passed (Feb. 22), but, really, isn’t every day National Margarita Day? Mashed serves up a roundup of “the absolute best margaritas in the US” and you better believe New Mexico made that list. Specifically, Secreto Lounge at the Hotel St. Francis, specializing in so-called “garden-to-glass” cocktails. “As the name might suggest, this means that their cocktails are jam-packed with fresh ingredients, local fruits and vegetables, and artisan liquors,” Mashed writes. “Although you would have a hard time finding something that’s not delicious on their innovative menu, the margaritas are truly the stars of the show.” The bar’s smoked sage margarita (personal testimony: is delicious) “starts with Azunia Reposado mixed with orange liqueur and lime juice. The orange liqueur and premium tequila give the drink depth, but what really takes it to the next level is the smoked sage. There are layers upon layers of flavor in this drink, but nothing is ever overpowering. Instead, it’s big and robust while still maintaining a perfect balance of its ingredients.” We can’t see traveling for a margarita, but we might have to check out Austin’s Curra’s Grill’s avocado margarita some time...just to satisfy our curiosity.
Antler antics
New Mexico journalist and author Abe Streep explores “The Great American Antler Boom” for the New Yorker magazine, explicating the trajectory of human/elk interactions from the settlers who hunted Eastern elk to extinction in the 1880s to present-day boom caused by the “confluence of the dog-chew phenomenon and social media.” Streep writes: “If the international antler business is built on faith in ancient remedies and the promise of futuristic ones, then the domestic antler business is centered on an illusion of economic freedom derived from the land, and a reality in which performative masculinity caters to the whims of a flourishing pet-wellness industry. Lori Rael, who operates a New Mexico hunting lodge, told me that the sport ‘used to be way more preserved.’ She added, ‘I’m not a guy, but you know how guys are. They want to be, like, ‘Oh, mine’s bigger.’” Streep spent some time with a group of “shed hunters” (people who search in the woods for lucrative deer and elk antlers) discussing the changes to elk hunting, as they drove in a truck with a plastic antler hanging in the rear view mirror. Most of the folks in the truck came from Questa, NM and had spent the night camping in Carson National forest; some were dispirited about the changes to their sport. One, Zeke Tapia, who had driven from Albuquerque to meet his friends, was more optimistic: “If you have respect for something you love, it’s going to respect you back,” he says.
Drying out
Santa Fe awoke to another dusting of snow today, but the rest of the day should be a little more arid, according to the National Weather Service, which forecasts a mostly cloudy day through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high near 43 degrees and north wind 10 to 15 mph. Don’t count winter out yet, though: Looks like more snow may be on the way later in the week.
Thanks for reading! The Word is currently finding it soothing to read about DIY projects she will never undertake, such as this Architectural Digest story about upgrading window sills.
