GRANTS, N.M. – A 47-year-old Grants man has been indicted on one count of False Imprisonment, and one count of Battery Upon a Peace Officer. Delmar Eldridge was arrested by Grants Police Department on April 5, before he could be fully booked, Eldridge allegedly attacked a GPD officer.
On June 24, a grand jury convened and indicted Eldridge. An indictment is just an allegation, all people are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
The Arrest
It was almost 4 p.m. on April 5 when Officer Brandon Will of the Grants Police Department was called to a Sunray Apartments off of Lobo Canyon Road in Grants, N.M. A woman called the Cibola County Regional Dispatch to inform them that her son was drunk and allegedly attacking his girlfriend.
When Officer Will arrived at the apartment complex, he met with the woman who called 911 and is not identified in the police report. The woman spoke with Officer Will and allegedly told him that she had instructed Eldridge, who she identified as her son, to leave the apartment; her son was not complying.
Officer Will went to the caller’s apartment and found a man with a woman behind him. The man refused to acknowledge himself, but the woman identified herself to the officer and is the victim in this alleged crime.
Despite repeated requests to identify himself, the man refused. He allegedly told Officer Will that he could not be removed from the building because it would be a violation of his fourth amendment rights – the fourth amendment protects against unreasonable search and seizure – to which Officer Will informed the man that the tenant of the apartment did not want him in the room anymore.
After refusing to give his name to Officer Will, Eldridge peacefully left the apartment and began to speak with a GPD Sergeant. Officer Will began to speak with the victim and noticed that she had “A raised area on her left forehead which is similar to an injury that is sustained when an individual is struck at a high level of force,” according to a Grants Police Report of the incident. This was just one of the many bruises and marks. The victim allegedly told Officer Will that she was struck several times by Eldridge, that she was slapped at least twice, and that she was punched with a closed fist at least twice.
Officer Will reported noticing the victim’s clothes. He allegedly saw the victim’s shirt torn from the middle. The victim allegedly told officers that Eldridge threatened to kill her, and then kill himself. The victim claimed that her shirt was torn because Eldridge had grabbed her which tore the clothing.
While Officer Will was interviewing the victim, Eldridge identified himself correctly to a GPD sergeant. The responding officers learned that the victim had an active restraining order against Eldridge, but the two allegedly rode to the Sunray Apartments together.
The victim was the only person at the scene to receive medical attention, all others involved refused medical attention.
Officer Will began to handcuff Eldridge, who became combative, cursing at the officer and yelling racial slurs about people of Mexican-descent and Caucasian-descent.
When Officer Will began driving to, and managed to get Eldridge inside the Cibola County Correctional Center, Eldridge allegedly spat saliva right in Will’s face. He then refused to walk with the officer, the ground caught Eldridge’s pants and pulled them down. Not wanting to get kicked or spat at again, Officer Will called for help from a correctional officer. The two managed to get Eldridge in the holding cell, but he continued to refuse orders from law enforcement. At some point during the alleged struggle to get Eldridge in the holding cell, he hit his head against the cell wall and reopened a closed wound on his head which was sustained the day prior. Law enforcement transferred him to Cibola General Hospital. Officer Will recorded
Officer Will recorded in his report that Eldridge had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech, and the smell of alcohol on his person.
Months after the alleged incident, on June 24, a grand jury was convened by the 13th Judicial District of New Mexico. The grand jury indicted Eldridge on one count of False Imprisonment of the victim, and one count of Battery Upon a Peace Officer. An indictment is just an allegation, all people are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.