Two arrested in gun incident at bar

CLOVIS — Two men were arrested early Sunday after one allegedly pointed a gun at a Clovis bar employee and another nearly hit a police officer while driving from the scene.

Terrance Martinez, 27, was charged with felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor negligent use of a deadly weapon after witnesses said he “had brandished a firearm and had it pointed at the chest of a Kelley’s security staff member,” before leaving the bar riding passenger in a pickup truck, according to a criminal complaint.

The driver, Hayden Blanton, 22, was charged with petty misdemeanor DWI after Clovis Police Department Officer Darren McPherson pulled them over at Commerce and Wallace streets while Officer Brent Aguilar interviewed witnesses at the bar, according to an incident report.

Reports and court records do not indicate any injuries emerging from the incident or anybody firing a weapon. Capt. Roman Romero confirmed Tuesday that no officers fired their weapon during the incident.

Both Blanton and Martinez appeared in custody Monday afternoon by video in magistrate court; they were each conditionally appointed a public defender and approved for release on personal recognizance pending court dates next month. Blanton pleaded not guilty to his misdemeanor charges and Martinez entered no plea.

Attempts to contact either Blanton or Martinez were unsuccessful.

Aguilar wrote that he arrived to the bar on the 2200 block of North Prince Street around 1 a.m. in response to a report of a public affray in progress, finding out front there a blue 2008 Nissan Titan pickup truck with several men around the driver side door.

In his incident report, Aguilar wrote that he had to jump out of the way after Blanton accelerated the truck out of the parking lot and onto the road.

“To prevent from being run over I was forced to quickly step away from the front of the vehicle,” he wrote. “I pointed my duty weapon at Blanton prepared to use deadly force to stop Blanton from running me or anyone else in front of the truck over as Blanton drove the truck past me.”

The two suspects, as well as another passenger not charged in the incident, continued southbound but were stopped soon after.

During his investigation of the bar fight, an employee told Aguilar he’d observed Martinez pointing a gun at the abdomen of a member of the security staff. That staff person “pushed Martinez into the side of the truck and the gun fell out of his hand onto the ground,” according to a criminal complaint. That gun, a .22-caliber revolver, was given to Aguilar for evidence and found to be loaded.

Records show Martinez “maintained he never pulled a gun on anyone while at Kelley’s,” and denied having a gun at the bar, in the truck or on his person.

Blanton, meanwhile, told officers he would have stopped if he saw police attempt to stop him, but he didn’t see Aguilar, according to court records.

He went on to tell McPherson that “he would have Aguilar’s badge,” that “he should punch Aguilar in the mouth” and generally “continued to make statements about how he wanted to confront Aguilar.”

Blanton was ultimately “booked on DUI and Aggravated Assault on a police officer,” according to McPherson’s report, but as of Tuesday court records did not show any charges pertaining to assault on an officer.