The Buckeye Police Department released police body cam footage this morning in an unusual misdemeanor arrest of a Buckeye man found hiding in a home under construction.
Jesus Fernando Ibarra Martinez, 29, has been charged with Unlawful Imprisonment, a first-degree misdemeanor; Threat-Intimidation with Injury-damage to Property, a first-degree misdemeanor and a related third-degree misdemeanor assault charge.
A series of seemingly minor events escalated quickly on Sunday morning, Buckeye police responded to a domestic disturbance at a home near Yuma and Sundance, according to a social media post by the Buckeye Police Department.
“While en route, officers spotted the suspect vehicle leaving the area,” according to Buckeye police. “The suspect refused to pull over, crashed into a median and then ran into a nearby construction site.”
According to court documents obtained by InBuckeye, Buckeye police received a call for service related to a domestic argument in the 22000 block of West Morning Glory Street.
On the way, officers were told that the suspect had left the home in a white BMW, according to court documents. A responding officer then saw the vehicle traveling south on North Sundance Parkway.
When the officers turned his patrol vehicle around “to conduct a traffic stop due to the domestic,” he saw the vehicle take off “at a high rate of speed,” according to the police report.
The speed limit on Sundance Parkway is 30 miles per hour; the pursuing officer was traveling at about 65 mph to catch up, but the defendant's vehicle was getting further away, according to the police report.
The officer stated that seconds after he activated his lights and siren, the driver of the BMW lost control and collided with the inside median at Yuma Road.
“The collision caused the defendants' vehicle to spin facing north in the south-bound lanes and collided with a chain link construction fence,” according to the police report.
The defendant exited the BMW and jumped a fence into a construction site at North Sundance and West Yuma. Then continued on foot west inside the construction site, ultimately hiding inside a structure on the property, according to the police report.
When other officers arrived, they began searching the construction site, eventually finding Martinez on the second floor of the structure hiding under construction materials, according to the police report.
Police later learned that the man had an active warrant from Gilbert Magistrate Court for failure to appear for a traffic offense, according to the report. Additionally, police stated they had been to the address on West Morning Glory Street on at least four other occasions for domestic incidents where the defendant had “fled prior to police arrival or barricaded himself due to fear of ICE deporting him,” the report states.
Martinez is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court on March 10.
