Standoff suspect gets almost two years in jail

An Arizona man was sentenced to almost two years in jail after he caused a nearly five-hour standoff with police in the middle of a busy Tucumcari corridor in February.

District Judge Benjamin Cross last week sentenced Edwin R. Corrales, 40, of Glendale, Arizona, to a total of one year, 11 months and 28 days in the New Mexico Department of Corrections after a plea deal, according to court documents.

Corrales had pleaded guilty to resisting, evading or obstructing an officer (refusal to stop), resisting, evading or obstructing an officer and criminal damage to property (under $1,000). All of the convictions were misdemeanors or petty misdemeanors.

Corrales also must pay restitution to the Quay County Sheriff’s Office and Tucumcari Police Department.

Corrales, a Honduran immigrant who has been in the United States since he was 5 years old, was ordered to turn himself in to the Quay County Detention Center by Oct. 4.

Corrales posted cash bond about a week after his arrest, though he was present during his sentencing.

His public defender, Anna Aragon, said Corrales has built a new life in Florida and that he intends to seek political asylum to avoid deportation.

Corrales and a passenger in his van became embroiled in an argument in Tucumcari as they were traveling from Arizona to Florida. The passenger left the vehicle and called police. The passenger and Corrales later admitted to smoking methamphetamine during the journey.

Local police tried to speak to Corrales, but he refused. He began a low-speed, intermittent chase with officers in the South First Street area. At one point during the stop-and-go chase, Corrales backed his van into a Tucumcari police vehicle.

Corrales finally stopped his vehicle in a center turn lane of South First Street and barricaded himself inside, fearing he would be shot.

Dozens of law enforcement vehicles — including those from state police, city police and the Quay County Sheriff’s Office — closed several blocks of South First Street during the standoff.

Hours later, a New Mexico State Police tactical robot holding a canister containing a teargas variant reached through a driver’s side window of Corrales’ van, prompting him to crawl through the window, show his hands and surrender.