'Person of interest' arrested after pursuit

CLOVIS — A “person of interest” sought last week in relation to a Portales homicide investigation was arrested Sunday afternoon following a vehicle pursuit that meanwhile involved a car crash with a Clovis police officer.

Officers commenced a vehicle pursuit around 4 p.m. Sunday from near the intersection of 13th and Lea streets. Manuel Silva Jr, 23, initially stopped driving the black Volkswagen Jetta for police’s emergency lights but “as the Officer approached the vehicle it fled,” according to a Clovis Police Department news release.

Ultimately, Silva “crashed the vehicle into a gas meter and continued to flee on foot,” finally being apprehended on the 1100 block of North Prince Street after officers chased him on foot.

Morgan Carmichael, a second “person of interest” sought since Friday by Portales Police Department, was with Silva at the time but not charged with any criminal act.

During the pursuit, a CPD officer “driving to the area of the pursuit was involved in a motor vehicle crash at the intersection of 7th and Gidding Streets,” the release read.

That officer along with unnamed “occupants of the other vehicle involved in the crash” were transported to a local hospital “with non-life threatening injuries,” the release read.

CPD Capt. Roman Romero declined to answer questions as to the identity and injuries of the occupants in the other vehicle, citing the ongoing investigation of that crash.

Witnesses told The News on Monday that a police suburban vehicle and white Tahoe, each with body damage, were pulled off to opposite sides of Seventh Street while officers blocked off the scene Sunday evening.

Silva was booked Sunday night in the Curry County Adult Detention Center on a felony warrant from Texas unrelated to the April 7 shooting death of Adam Holts in Portales.

Police on Friday had requested public assistance in locating Silva and Carmichael in relation to that homicide investigation. They specified that Silva and Carmichael are not suspects.

PPD Lt. Chris Williams told The News on Monday investigators had spoken to both Silva and Carmichael and that “both are still persons of interest,” but he declined to share any additional developments into the homicide investigation.

“Without risking corrupting any potential jury panels, interfering with the investigation or civil liability this is all I can advise you of at this time,” Williams wrote in an email. “We will update you as soon as we have developments that arise.”

The pursuit Sunday in Clovis started at 4:09 p.m. when arresting CPD officer Jordan Riddle recognized the vehicle and its occupants “wanted for questioning in reference to a homicide,” according to an incident report. Riddle commenced a stop but the car took off in a northwest-bound zig-zag fashion toward a parking lot on the 1500 block of North Prince Street, nearly causing crashes with three vehicles in the process. It then proceeded southbound on Prince Street and drove “in between the two lanes of traffic” stopped at a light at the intersection with 14th Street.

The car turned westbound off of Prince onto 12th street, then “made a quick left hand turn into the alley” and hit a metal fence. The whole chase took under four minutes, the report shows.

Silva was apprehended after a short foot pursuit, then booked into jail after being medically cleared at the Clovis hospital with a splint on his right hand and forearm. He was also charged with aggravated fleeing a law enforcement officer, a fourth-degree felony.