A police officer and a female bystander were killed during a dramatic kidnapping chase in New Mexico.
Officer Robert Duran was pursuing the suspect in Santa Fe when two police units, the suspect and another car were all involved in the fatal four-vehicle crash on I-25.
Police said the suspect had been driving the wrong way on the highway as he fled with his female victim, and ran from the scene of the crash evading officers and a search helicopter.
The woman, who was earlier kidnapped from an apartment complex at knifepoint, survived and was taken to a local hospital, according to officials.
Officer Duran, 43, joined the force as a cadet in 2015 and is survived by a wife and two teenage sons.
A witness, who did not want to be named, described the chase and seeing the suspect veer across the media and into the northbound lane driving south.
“He was still going incorrectly. The next thing I see there was vehicles everywhere, including cop cars, and smoke everywhere,” she told The Santa Fe New Mexican.
“He was still going incorrectly,” she said. “The next thing I see there was vehicles everywhere, including cop cars, and smoke everywhere.”
Officer Duran is just the third Santa Fe officer who has died in the line of duty, with the last officer death occurring in 1933.
“Officer Duran was well respected and loved by his peers,” Santa Fe interim Police Chief Paul Joye said.
“We as a department and as individuals are still grieving and processing his loss.”
New Mexico’s Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham offered her condolences.
“I am deeply saddened by the death of a Santa Fe police officer today while in the line of duty as well as the tragic death of another motorist,” she said
“My prayers are with the loved ones of the victims and the Santa Fe Community as a whole.”
