ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Video shows one of New Mexico State Police‘s nightly encounters with the city’s crime problems during their metro surge operation. A stolen truck, meth and a felon with a gun – all ending in a crash through a family’s wall.
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An NMSP officer was on patrol in Albuquerque late last month at a motel looking for stolen cars near the Big-I. During his search, a man driving a white pickup, later identified as 48-year-old Paul Moreno, took off and the officer followed him to a nearby gas station.
The pickup truck has no license plate and as soon as the lights and sirens turn on, Moreno takes off. The video shows Moreno blow through at least five red lights as he speeds to the North Valley hitting 90 mph on surface streets. Moreno eventually turned into a neighborhood off Rio Grande and Griegos.
The video shows Moreno running out of options and stops the truck outside a home before he takes off again. Video showed him hitting some railroad ties, he romps over some bushes but quickly loses control and crashes through a family’s back wall causing thousands of dollars in damage.
It took Moreno ten minutes to get out of the truck for officers to arrest him. Officers say they then found two bags of meth in Moreno’s pockets, a stolen gun in the truck, and the truck wasn’t his either.
Moreno has a long criminal history for drugs for at least half a dozen arrests for car theft. He’s still behind bars and set to be arraigned on Friday on his 49th birthday.