The Cortez Police Department believes Duece Martinez was driving the vehicle that led police on a high-speed chase on Sept. 13.
About 9:30 p.m., officer Vance Carver observed a 2006 Dodge Charger with the license plate DUECE1 driving in front of him. Although the vehicle is registered to William Martinez, Carver said he knew that Duece Martinez is usually the driver.
Because Martinez faces an arrest warrant from Archuleta County, Carver attempted to see whether Martinez was driving the vehicle.
Carver couldn’t identify the driver through his window, he turned on his emergency lights and the car accelerated and drove away.
“The vehicle was driving recklessly, clearly faster than the posted speed limit,” Carver said.
The vehicle went into the westbound lane of traffic and ran a stop sign at an intersection before driving south on Cedar Street.
After running another stop sign, Carver said the vehicle “bounced off the road from the dip at the intersection, creating excessive sparks on the ground.”
Because of the smoke and traffic, Carver stopped his pursuit. Once the smoke settled, he followed a trail of vehicle fluid to the 1200 block of South Chestnut Street.
There, he found the abandoned vehicle over the right curb and smoking. A witness said she saw an occupant leave the vehicle and run away.
While police investigated the crash, the car’s engine compartment caught on fire. The fire department was called to put out the fire.
Carver was informed by dispatch that Martinez’s license is revoked. He called William Martinez to ask about the vehicle and Duece. William Martinez told Carver that both the vehicle and Duece Martinez were gone.
The police sought a warrant for Duece Martinez’s arrest for the charges of vehicular eluding, driving under revocation, disregarding stop signs, reckless driving and driving on the wrong side of the road. The warrant was denied by the 22nd Judicial District because there was not enough evidence that he was driving, according to the PD.
Duece Martinez has had multiple appearances in 22nd Judicial District Court in 2024, and has open cases including vehicular eluding, violation of a protection order, DUI and more.
This story was updated to reflect that there is not an active warrant for Martinez’s arrest as originally reported.
