“That was the dumbest thing you could’ve done,” Deputy Abel Rodriguez can be heard saying on his body camera to 26 year-old Roberto Garcia, moments after he finally stopped his vehicle after trying to flee the deputy during a traffic stop on Feb. 20 in Dona Ana County, New Mexico.
The officer had just been taken for a ride, literally, as he asked Garcia to step out of his vehicle.
With the driver side door open and Rodriguez leaning partially inside, he asks Garcia to step out of the vehicle. Garcia refuses and Rodriguez tries to extricate Garcia from the vehicle.
That’s when Garcia then puts the Cadillac in gear and speeds off with the deputy inside the vehicle.
“Stop the car!” Rodriguez can be heard shouting. He also reportedly hit Garcia over the head with his flashlight.
Garcia eventually stopped the vehicle about 500 metres down the road from the original stop.
Garcia was arrested for speeding, failure to provide a valid driver’s license, resisting or obstructing and possession of paraphernalia.
On Wednesday, Sheriff’s detectives obtained a warrant for Garcia on charges of aggravated fleeing of a law enforcement officer, which is a fourth degree felony.
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