Teen arrested after rollover near Santa Fe Rodeo Grounds

Sep. 27--A 14-year-old boy accused of crashing and rolling a stolen Jeep carrying four other youth near the Santa Fe Rodeo Grounds was arrested after the incident Wednesday evening.

The teen was charged with receiving a stolen motor vehicle, reckless driving and having no driver's license or insurance, according to a police report. After a medical examination, he was booked into the Santa Fe County juvenile detention center.

There were questions, however, about the circumstances in which the vehicle had been stolen.

Officers were called to the scene of the crash on a road behind the rodeo grounds around 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. The 2000 black Jeep Grand Cherokee -- described in a police report as having 32-inch mud tires and a white pinstripe on each side -- was severely damaged, but there were no serious injuries.

Some of the kids had run from the Jeep after the crash but were detained nearby and interviewed by officers, police said.

The boy suspected of being the driver was found sitting on a curb at the dead end of Camino Cielo Vista with a 14-year-old girl who had been riding in the Jeep, according to the police report.

The boy's "demeanor was sunken in," and he would not make eye contact with a police officer who interviewed him, the report said. Later, he confirmed he had been driving the vehicle, the officer wrote. The boy said he knew the Jeep was stolen and said he had gotten it a day earlier from a friend named Sam, but he would not elaborate.

The driver and the 14-year-old girl both told the officer another boy seated behind the driver had been pulling on his shirt or shoulders, and when he turned around to yell at the backseat passenger, the Jeep rolled off the roadway. The report noted that tire marks on the road indicated the Jeep had been traveling too fast to make a turn.

The Jeep's owner, who had reported it stolen Wednesday morning, gave officers a convoluted description of events leading up to the theft, according to the police report.

The owner, identified as Samuel Schulak, 30, of Santa Fe, told police he had picked up a teen boy Monday at Franklin E. Miles Park -- a few blocks from Santa Fe High -- and the two began driving around. He had known the boy for about 2 1/2 months, after meeting him at the skate park area of Franklin E. Miles Park, he said.

At some point, Schulak said, the boy asked to drive the Jeep, and he agreed, but then "the battery died and the vehicle ran out of gasoline." They took the vehicle to a mechanic shop near Cerrillos Road, he said, according to the report.

While they were at the shop, Schulak told police, he heard the boy pull back the slide on a firearm -- though he said he never saw the weapon. Schulak then went to a gas station across the street to get gas, he said, but when he returned to the mechanic shop, the Jeep had already been fueled up. He and the boy began driving around again.

The boy, who was driving the Jeep, "kept persisting" they go to a residential compound on Jemez Road near Airport Road, Schulak told officers, but Schulak resisted because he believed the home was "used for sex trafficking and to sell drugs."

At some point, Schulak said, the boy pulled into another gas station on Cerrillos Road, and he handed over his keys to the boy, leaving his driver's license, birth certificate, passport and cellphone in the vehicle. Schulak said the boy never returned with the Jeep.

Officers searched a walled home on Jemez Road, as well as the skate park, but could not find the Jeep, the report said.

A spokesman with the Santa Fe Police Department did not respond to questions about Schulak's story and his connection with the 14-year-old boy.

Schulak could not be reached for comment. A man who answered the phone Thursday at a number listed for him in public records said he was Schulak's father and had no knowledge of the incident. His son does not have a phone, the man added.

The police report said officers were unable to contact the 14-year-old boy's guardian.

Police interviewed the other teens involved in the crash at a local hospital, where they were cleared by medical staff and released to their parents.

___

(c)2019 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.)

Visit The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) at www.santafenewmexican.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.