Two men were arrested at City Market at the end of December, one for allegedly breaking another man’s jaw, and the other for refusing to tell officers his name.
Police responded to City Market about 10:10 a.m. on Dec. 28 after receiving reports of a fight. A witness told officer Trevor Robertson that a Native American male was “beating up” a man in a camouflage jacket. The man in the camouflage jacket was still sitting at the side of the store while officer Brent Rivas spoke to two other men between City Market and Front Row Seat.
Robertson noted that the man sitting against the store, later identified as Sheldon Arrates, had a bloodied face. Arrates didn’t wish to speak with Robertson, so he left him with EMS.
The other two men speaking with Rivas, identified later as Knephia Begay and Christopher Trujillo, denied they had been fighting.
Robertson added that both men seemed intoxicated, and Trujillo said the officers were “harassing them” as they were trying to go home.
Video footage from the witness’s phone pointed out Begay as the attacker. After Begay asked, “What if it was self-defense?” the two men began arguing about who was the one who punched Arrates, saying the other one was innocent.
Trujillo asked if Robertson could “just let it slide. He deserved it, he owed like $50.”
After officers observed that Begay had dried blood on his hands, Trujillo said he put the blood there.
After police arrested Begay, officers asked for Trujillo’s name, as he was still unidentified at that time. Instead of providing his name, Trujillo gave expletive-laced phrases in place of his name. Because he refused to identify himself and claimed he punched Arrates, Trujillo was arrested as well.
A half-empty bottle of Vodka was found in his backpack. Police were able to identify him after finding a wallet in the backpack.
Both Trujillo and Begay were taken to the ER and medically cleared for jail. They were “verbally disruptive” to ER staff and patients, according to the report.
Trujillo allegedly told Robertson he was going to “shoot up his house” once they arrived at the Montezuma County Detention Center.
Begay was cited with third-degree assault and Trujillo with interfering with an officer and false reporting to police. Video footage from the witness revealed Trujillo was not the one who punched Arrates.
Other witnesses later told Robertson over the phone they saw Begay punch Arrates multiple times, even when he was on the ground. ER staff told police that Arrates had a nonoperative broken jaw injury as a “result of the beating.”
Begay will appear for his appearance on bond in the Montezuma County Combined Courts on Jan. 8 at 9 a.m.
