TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. (KRQE) – New video obtained by KRQE News 13 shows the moments a rookie New Mexico State Police officer made a traffic stop and soon found out the wanted sex offender behind the wheel was armed with a gun, and ready to use it.
“I thought he was going to shoot me, I already knew he was dangerous for what his warrants were,” NMSP Officer Caleb Bricker recounted after the May 6 incident in Truth or Consequences.
Bricker had been patrolling by himself for less than three weeks when he pulled over a white pickup truck. “When I did that I was made known of a warrant out of Arizona,” Bricker said.
The warrant out for 75-year old Dennis Jones was for a probation violation in a sexual assault case.
“I asked him if there were any weapons in the vehicle. When I went back to the window he was acting very nervous. I was concerned for my safety because he was acting erratic with what he was doing,” Bricker recalled.
At that point Officer Bricker said Jones started pulling items out of his glove box. The officer said he ordered Jones to exit the vehicle, and that’s when he says he saw a weapon.
“He just came straight up and pointed it right at me. I saw like the muzzle of the gun,” Bricker said.
Jones drove away from the scene but the chase didn’t last long, leading to a standoff on a dirt road. “I gave him commands to let me see his hands. I did tell him I was going to shoot him. At that point I believed he fired off two rounds,” Bricker recalled.
Officer Bricker told investigators he fired at the vehicle to try to stop the threat. When he saw Jones stick his head out of the door of the truck, the officer fired the fatal shot.
At this time, the district attorney’s office is still investigating the shooting.
