By MAIRE O’NEILLJerry Ray Chase, 24, of Los Alamos faces a June 15 preliminary hearing in Los Alamos Magistrate Court on two charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and one charge of possession of drug paraphernalia in connection with his May 14 arrest by Los Alamos Police Department.
Court documents filed by Los Alamos Police Cpl. Jemuel Montoya indicate that a husband and wife in two separate vehicles had stopped on San Ildefonso Road when a third vehicle pulled up behind them. Two men in the vehicle began yelling profanities at the female driver and then the third vehicle allegedly sped around the husband and wife’s vehicles.
The third vehicle then pulled off on the side of the road before the roundabout, the female witness reportedly told police. The male victim reportedly tried to tell the two men that he has stopped because of deer on the road. The two men in the third vehicle allegedly got out of the vehicle and continued yelling at the male victim.
One of the men, later identified as Chase, was reported to have grabbed an axe from the back of the vehicle, slammed it on the vehicle and began to approach the male victim’s car at which time the male victim drove away. His wife, however, remained parked and told the two men she was talking to the police. The two men sped away, the female victim reported and she followed them to see if she could get a license plate number.
Chase was eventually stopped by police at Diamond Drive and Arkansas. When questioned by officers, he claimed that the victims had yelled at him for almost killing a deer. He claimed the two vehicles followed him to the roundabout and began yelling at him again. Asked if he had a weapon in the vehicle, Chase allegedly admitted to having the axe and brandishing it at the two victims.
Montoya’s report states that the vehicle was impounded due to the belief that Chase or the other occupants of the vehicle had been in possession of a controlled substance based on odors emitting from Chase, the vehicle and the other occupants.
