Vehicular crime possible retaliation for alleged domestic violence incident
An alleged road rage incident in Mountainair last week left one man injured and two arrested.
Torrance County Sheriff’s Office deputies investigated an alleged aggravated battery involving a pickup truck and a dirt bike on Sept. 14 near Highway 55 and Pinon Street in Mountainair. According to a Sept. 16 criminal complaint, deputies arrived at the Alon gas station on 603 W. Broadway to investigate injuries to 24-year-old Maverick Kayser of Mountainair who was being checked out by medical staff for a possible head injury. Maverick told deputies that he was injured when 24-year-old Zealand Padilla of Mountainair purposely tried to run Kayser off the road by using his pickup truck to hit the back of the dirt bike Kayser was driving.
According to the Sept. 16 complaint, Kayser told deputies that after he hit his head on the handlebars, which caused him to crash his dirt bike in the shoulder, he walked to his father Keith Kayser’s house. Maverick said that his father was driving him home when they saw Padilla driving Maverick’s dirt bike without his permission. According to the Sept. 16 complaint, Maverick said Keith drove his pickup truck into the back of the dirt bike, causing Zealand to crash. Maverick told deputies that Padilla got up and ran, and Maverick and Keith put the dirt bike into the bed of their truck and drove back to Maverick’s house.
According to the complaint, Maverick’s mother, Sarah Kayser, told deputies that when Maverick and Keith returned to Maverick’s residence with the dirt bike, she saw Padilla pull up to the house and yell from his truck about “holding Sarah hostage and shooting her in the face.” Sarah told deputies that she heard a pop, ran inside because she thought she was being shot at, and called TCSO.
According to the Sept. 16 criminal complaint, Maverick told deputies that the altercation started because Maverick had been charged with an alleged assault against Padilla’s sister, and Padilla was “looking for retaliation.”
According to a criminal complaint from Sept. 12, Padilla’s sister was involved in an alleged domestic violence incident with Maverick Kayser on Sept. 2 in Mountainair and a warrant was issued for Maverick’s arrest. According to the Sept. 12 complaint, the alleged victim told TCSO deputies that she and Maverick got into an argument at Sarah Kayser’s residence and he punched her in the face several times. According to the Sept. 12 complaint, Maverick denied physically touching the alleged victim.
Padilla was arrested Sept. 14 and charged with one count of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, one count of leaving the scene of an accident, and one count of reckless driving.
Maverick was also arrested Sept. 14 on the Torrance County warrant.
Padilla and Maverick were booked separately at the CoreCivic Detention Center.