By C1 Staff
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A county official giving an interview for the Bernalillo County Jail stepped up and helped out law enforcement while the camera was rolling.
KOAT reports that Catherine Lopez was giving an interview about seeking ideas to revamp the old lockup that has sat empty for four years. The lockup costs the county and taxpayers $80,000 a year to keep standing; officials have been debating whether or not to tear it down since January.
But as Lopez was answering questions, she heard a voice in the distance.
“All of a sudden I could just hear kind of like a muffled sound coming from around the corner of the building going, ‘Stop her! Get her! Stop her!,” Lopez said.
An Albuquerque police officer attempting to take Melissa Dominguez back into custody came around the corner, and Lopez stepped into help, grabbing Dominguez by the arm.
“It’s that split-second decision that most people might be faced with when you’re encountered with something like that and then instinct just takes over,” she said.
The officer had been transporting Dominguez to jail when she took an opportunity to slip out of her cuffs and make a run for it. She had been arrested earlier in the day for auto burglary, which police had caught her in the act attempting. She also attempted to stab an officer with a hypodermic needle during arrest.
Dominguez has a rap sheet and mug shots stretching back to 2008.
Lopez said she has a new respect for police.
“My heart is beating right now just thinking about it, and so I can’t imagine what they go through when they are dealing with it every day,” she said.