Four high school teens in New Mexico held an adult male down last month until police arrived, after he reportedly tried to steal their SUV. This week, a newly-released video of the incident shows officers arriving on the scene to discover a beaten suspect “wailing in pain” as he hangs halfway out of the driver’s side window of the vehicle he allegedly tried to take.
KRQE reports that Angelo Martinez, 21, allegedly tried to carjack four high school football players in Albuquerque, shortly after they finished football practice at the Loma Linda Community Center in August. The suspect reportedly pointed a gun at the boys and demanded their vehicle. The teens fought back and eventually pinned the suspect down after a violent confrontation.
When police arrived, Martinez said that the teens jumped him and played “the victim card.”
“I was trying to get out and they kept hitting me,” Martinez told police. “I’m going to die.”
After separating the boys from the suspect, police determined that Martinez was likely attempting to rob the teens. They later found a ski mask and knife on the suspect, and a handwritten note that read, “Give me the keys to your whip (car) and nobody gets hurt.”
The badly-beaten suspect was taken to the hospital, and later arrested on charges of aggravated assault. Authorities determined that the gun Martinez had was fake.
The mother of one of the teens spoke with KRQE and reiterated that the victims were just boys who were scared and did what they could to protect themselves.
“These are boys, not men. One of the little of boys realized that his phone was still in the truck and asked the guy if he can get it. My son had saw that he dropped the gun so he opened the truck and he just kind of tackled him.”
The comments from the mother came after numerous people online criticized the teens and told them they took the attack too far. The mom reported that her son received death threats after the incident.
[Feature Photo: Bernalillo Sheriff’s Office]
