Man shot by law enforcement charged with theft, property damage

PORTALES — The man shot last week by law enforcement allegedly ran a vehicle off the road after driving through several fences and severely damaging his wife’s car with a stolen front-end loader, according to court records filed Monday in Magistrate Court.

James McFarlin, 48, was charged Friday with unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer and criminal damage to property over $1,000, according to a criminal complaint from New Mexico State Police.

Roosevelt County Sheriff deputies were notified just before noon Jan. 15 of a man “attempting to flip over a car with a front-end loader at Cottonwood Place,” said a news release last week from NMSP, which is investigating the incident.

That man was McFarlin; the front end loader was an L70 Volvo brand vehicle allegedly stolen from a nearby dairy on the 500 block of South Roosevelt Road P, and the car was a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee, “solely registered in Heather McFarlin’s name,” said the complaint.

Court records show Heather McFarlin submitted a dissolution of marriage petition Jan. 17, two days after the incident. She declined Monday evening to comment on the matter.

Art Schaap said McFarlin stole from his dairy the front-end loader on the morning of Jan. 15, soon before reports came in of McFarlin battering the Jeep and damaging his own residence on the 1500 block of Cottonwood Place, about two blocks south of Schaap’s dairy.

“He jumped over the fence and stole the loader and he proceeded to drive through the fence,” Schaap said Monday. “I never met this man and I don’t know anything about him.”

After deputies arrived on scene, McFarlin “fled” on the heavy equipment, running through several fences and fields in the county, records show.

“Mr. McFarlin eventually traveled onto South Kilgore Street for a short distance before leaving the roadway again,” wrote NMSP officer Bryan Conner. “Lapel camera footage captures a statement from an officer with the Roosevelt County Sheriff stating Mr. McFarlin ran a vehicle off the road.”

He then continued “to elude the deputies,” running down two more fences before crossing 18th Street, nearly hitting another vehicle in the process, records show.

The chase ended in a field at the corner of 18th and South Kilgore streets, where “the use of deadly force was utilize(d) in order to stop Mr. McFarlin.”

McFarlin was “ignoring emergency equipment and commands to stop the vehicle” during the entire pursuit, the complaint against him reads.

The complaint did not name the deputy who shot McFarlin, detail any of his injuries, or state why deadly force was necessary. NMSP did not respond Monday to requests for more detail or an update on McFarlin’s condition.

NMSP Public Information Officer Carl Christiansen said last week McFarlin was hospitalized with “non-life threatening injuries.”

McFarlin was still in a hospital on Friday, Assistant District Attorney Jake Boazman said Monday.

“No details on his injuries were given to me,” he said. “I know that he was conscious, and that’s all that I was told.”

An arrest warrant authorized Friday will be served on McFarlin following his hospital discharge, Boazman said.

The front-end loader was recovered after the police pursuit and in need of some repairs, Schaap said Monday.

Damages to the vehicle included shot out windows, debris in the interior, damage to the rear end and “blood on the windows,” he said.

“I got my loader back and there’s damage,” Schaap said. “I’m just glad nobody’s dead over it.”