{"id":95669,"date":"2019-02-10T14:43:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-10T21:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/man-pleads-guilty-to-assaulting-emt-in-montezuma-park\/"},"modified":"2019-02-10T14:43:00","modified_gmt":"2019-02-10T21:43:00","slug":"man-pleads-guilty-to-assaulting-emt-in-montezuma-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/man-pleads-guilty-to-assaulting-emt-in-montezuma-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Man pleads guilty to assaulting EMT in Montezuma Park"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Tsosie\"
Tsosie<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A Cortez man pleaded guilty Thursday to assaulting an EMT who was treating him after he passed out in Montezuma Park on New Year\u2019s Eve.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors asked that sentencing be left open for Therman J. Tsosie, 41, who has picked up other charges since Dec. 31.<\/p>\n

Twenty-second Judicial District Chief Judge Douglas Walker is handling the case. Montezuma County Judge JenniLynn Lawrence recused herself because she knows the victim.<\/p>\n

Walker said Tsosie faces a range of sentencing options on the misdemeanor charge of third-degree assault. He could serve two years in jail or probation. Walker ordered a presentence investigation and set a sentencing hearing for March 7.<\/p>\n

According to a Cortez police report, an officer saw Tsosie passed out on a bench in the small city park about 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 31. Miranda Ludington, a Southwest Health System EMT, checked Tsosie and determined he should go to the hospital.<\/p>\n

When several EMTs attempted to lift Tsosie onto a gurney, he elbowed Ludington, striking her radio, which jammed into her ribs, according to the report. The police officer reported that Ludington continued to treat Tsosie.<\/p>\n

After he was medically cleared, an officer initially gave Tsosie a courtesy ride to The Bridge Emergency Shelter for the night and later returned to arrest him on a charge of second-degree assault.<\/p>\n

Tsosie bonded out of Montezuma County Detention Center on Jan. 21 and then had two encounters with police on Jan. 26, resulting in new charges.<\/p>\n

On the night of Jan. 25, a man at The Bridge reported to police that Tsosie had kneed or kicked him in the face after accusing him of messing with his girlfriend, according to a Cortez police report.<\/p>\n

The next morning, police found Tsosie with a group of people in Montezuma Park, according to a police report.<\/p>\n

Police issued Tsosie a summons for third-degree assault and harassment just after 11 a.m. on Jan. 26. About six hours later, officers found Tsosie with a group of people in an alley at City Market, where he is trespassed indefinitely.<\/p>\n

He also was intoxicated, which violated his bail bond conditions. Police arrested him on a felony hold for trespass and bail violation.<\/p>\n

Tsosie appeared in court in custody on Thursday for a hearing on the EMT assault case. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Margeson informed the court that Ludington said she would rather see Tsosie receive help than go to jail.<\/p>\n

Walker said victims don\u2019t bind the court to plea agreements. The judge then asked Margeson whether Tsosie has an \u201cextended record.\u201d Margeson said he does.<\/p>\n

Tsosie returns to court in late February for his two other pending cases.<\/p>\n

sdolan@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

continued to treat intoxicated man<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":95670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-95669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95669"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=95669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}