By Roger Lanse

A call came into the Grant County Regional Dispatch Center on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021, advising that a group of boys appear to be fighting in the 13th Street parking lot. Deputies assisting Silver City Police Department officers responded at approximately 1:15 p.m., and were told that one of the juveniles had been reported as missing last week.

According to a GCSO report narrative, a deputy recognized the missing juvenile sitting on the ground in the Skate Park and attempted to have him come to them. The juvenile instead, the narrative said, began walking away from the officers and deputies, and it was then that the pursuers were notified by GCRDC that the juvenile was a runaway. At that point, the juvenile began running.

The narrative stated that the 16-year-old male juvenile was apprehended in the ditch area just west of Penny Park. However, the apprehension was not without its moments. According to the narrative, the juvenile was kicking and screaming and refusing to comply, while the juvenile's friends began obstructing the deputies as they tried to deal with the juvenile and get him into a unit. At one point, the friends urged the juvenile to spit in a deputy's face, which he did.

Deputies were able to place the juvenile into the prisoner compartment of an SCPD officer's unit and he was transported to GCSO. A juvenile probation officer and District Judge Tom Foy were called, according to the narrative, the JPO approving the juvenile be transported to the Dona Ana Juvenile Detention Center for incarceration and the judge approving charges of battery upon a peace officer and resisting, evading, or obstructing an officer.

The juvenile was transported to the DAJDC and papers were filed to remove his name from the National Crime Information Center.