By Roger Lanse

On Monday, Aug. 24, 2020, at about 4 a.m., Grant County Sheriff's deputies responded to a vehicle crash with injuries at MM 32 of Highway 152, about eight miles west of Kingston, NM involving five persons. As a deputy was en route to La Tienda gas station in Mimbres to stage with EMS, a police report stated the deputy initiated a traffic stop of a gray Dodge pickup near the intersection of Highways 152 and 61. The Grant County Regional Dispatch Authority had advised that two of the five subjects had been picked up by that vehicle. Two males, Steven Politz and Nicolas Romero, unknown ages, with El Paso addresses, were in the pickup. GCRDA confirmed that Politz had an active warrant for his arrest out of Hidalgo County. The gray pickup followed another deputy to the staging area for medical attention for the pair, where Politz was arrested on the warrant.

The original deputy continued on to the crash site where he observed a black Mitsubishi SUV with Texas plates approximately 15 feet down an embankment into a ravine. The report stated that Sierra County Sheriff's deputies, and Hillsboro and Sierra County EMS were already there. The passengers who were at the crash site were Angel Ramirez and Nancy Vilchis, unknown ages, of Mexico. A third subject, not named in the report, was in pain, the report said, and did not give a statement.

After requesting GCRDA to check with Border Patrol it was determined that Romero was in the United States illegally and was taken into custody while at the hospital by USBP officers.

The unnamed subject was flown out via Native Air due to spinal and leg injuries, according to the report. Vilchis was transported via EMS to Gila Regional Medical Center for leg injuries. USBP is investigating the citizenship of Vilchis and the unnamed subject. A wrecker towed the Mitsubishi to their tow yard.

The original deputy transported Romero to GRMC and asked him one more time, the report said, what happened. Romero stated that he was asleep in the passenger seat then he woke up when Politz yelled and they went off the road.