Tucumcari man faces charges in bear spray incident

A man faces four felony criminal charges after he was accused last week of spraying bear spray on two people, then punching a Tucumcari police officer and trying to grab his weapons.

Frank Christopher Link, 52, was charged with aggravated battery upon a police officer (no great bodily harm), disarming a police officer (removing firearm or weapon) and two counts of aggravated battery (great bodily harm).

No address was listed for Link in court records.

Three of the four courts are third-degree felonies, which can result in three years in prison and a $5,000 fine. One was a fourth-degree felony, which can result in 18 months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

A prosecutor, saying Link was a danger to the community, filed a motion he be held without bond until his case is adjudicated. A hearing on the motion was scheduled for Nov. 23 in front of District Judge Albert Mitchell Jr.

Tucumcari police earlier this month issued a bulletin, asking for residents to be on the lookout for a man in a long black coat “spraying unsuspecting individuals and vehicles with what is believed to be bear spray.”

Interim Police Chief Pete Rivera refused to speculate last week whether Link was a suspect in previous bear-spray reports.

“Should we be able to determine that, we’ll make a press release at a later date,” Rivera stated in an email.

A pretrial detention motion filed by a prosecutor on Thursday argues, however, that Link was responsible for the other bear-spray attacks.

According to a criminal complaint filed by Tucumcari police officer Nemie Salvador and the pretrial motion filed by the DA’s office, officers were sent about 7:15 p.m. Nov. 16 to the 800 block of West Hancock Avenue about a bear-spray report.

A driver told an officer he and a woman from Grady were at First Street and Tucumcari Boulevard when a man drove by in a moped and sprayed bear spray on the side of his truck.

The driver followed the man to the 800 block of West Hancock Avenue. There, the man sprayed the driver, ran around the back of an apartment building and got back on his moped.

As the man ran, he opened the passenger door of the truck and sprayed toward the woman inside. The woman was hospitalized due to the attack, but her condition was not known, according to the motion.

Tucumcari Police Cpl. Herman Martinez found Link near the entrance of a West Tucumcari Boulevard motel and asked him whether he could see one of the sprays hanging from the man’s pockets.

“He began to reach into his pocket, grabbed a can of spray and handed it to Cpl. Martinez and suddenly threw a punch at Cpl. Martinez, striking him on the left side of the face,” the complaint stated.

According to the prosecutor’s motion, Martinez pulled out a Taser but didn’t use it because he thought it would be ineffective against Link’s layers of clothing. Link grabbed the Taser out of Martinez’s hand, pointed it at the officer and pulled the trigger. The Taser did not activate because it was not turned on.

Martinez tackled Link and knocked the Taser out of Link’s hand. Link began reaching for Martinez’s firearm but was able only to grab the officer’s extra magazines.

Martinez and a passerby subdued Link, and the suspect was placed in hand restraints.

Deputy District Attorney Heidi Adams argued in her pretrial detention motion that Link was a danger to the community.

“There have been numerous attacks on unsuspecting citizens in Tucumcari, New Mexico, recently sending several residents to the hospital after being sprayed with bear spray,” Adams wrote.

“Further, fighting with law enforcement and attempting to disarm an officer is not only causing potential danger to the officer but to the community at large. But for the quick actions of a private citizen, Corporal Martinez could have been further injured by the defendant’s conduct.”

Bear spray is made of pepper oil that can irritate the eyes, throat and lungs. It can cause permanent eye damage in some instances.

Link remained in custody of the Quay County Detention Center as of Monday morning. He made his first appearance in magistrate court Wednesday, where Judge Noreen Hendrickson found probable cause for the charges. Link’s case was transferred to district court a day later.

No attorney for Link was listed in court records.